Sea Witch: Lightning Thief
by mai321lunatic
Summary: Nikki Jackson thought she knew what she was. Until she found out that she was a Demigod and then it just got worse when she was accused of stealing her Uncle Sparky's lightning bolt. She already had enough trouble with simply being the Girl-Who-Lived! Fem!Percy/Harry AU ooc I don't own Percy Jackson
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Percy Jackson

_Half-blood, Half-god, Demigod_

'We can make it look like an accident. We'll wear gloves and no one will know it was us.'

'What do you mean by 'us'? You'd be the one snapping her neck.'

'But you'd help me hide the body. I'll kill her. You'll get to clean up the crime scene.'

'Why do I get stuck with the dirty work? I don't exactly like her either…'

Big yellow bus, two teachers and twenty-eight mental-case kids; recipe for disaster.

Meet sixth graders Nikki Jackson and Grover Underwood. Nikki, ten, petite, long black hair and green eyes, dyslexic and has ADHD with a talent for art, music and numbers, champion with languages. Grover, twelve, scrawny with acne and a start of a wispy beard, crippled with a note excusing himself from PE for the rest of his life.

Meet Nancy Bobofit, twelve, kleptomaniac and queen of Yancy, sent for getting caught stealing a three hundred jacket. The death of whom Nikki and Grover plan (she should sleep with one eye open) and who was currently chucking peanut butter and ketchup sandwich pieces at Grover. Nancy had never gotten along with Nikki, she was younger than Nancy and yet in the same year, and Grover, he was simply an easy bully target.

The sixth graders were going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. Sounds boring, yeah but it was being led by Mr Brunner, their Latin teacher. He was middle aged in a motorized wheelchair, thinning hair and scruffy beard, not really someone you'd considered 'cool' but he told stories and let students play games in class. It was the only class that didn't bore Nikki.

Ω

Mr Brunner led the tour and began explaining to the class about an ancient grave marker, a _stele_, for a girl about the student's age. Nikki tried to listen but everyone else was talking around her and whenever she told them to shut up, she'd received the evil eye from the other teacher chaperone, Mrs Dodds.

Mrs Dodds had come to Yancy to replace the maths teacher halfway through the year when the last teacher had a nervous breakdown and from the first day, she loved Nancy and thought Nikki was devil's spawn. She wore a leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old and looked mean enough to ride a Harley into the lockers. Something felt wrong about her to Nikki and once Nikki told Grover that she didn't think Mrs Dodds was human. He looked at her real serious and said, 'You're absolutely right.'

Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered about the naked guy on the _stele_ and Nikki turned around and said, 'Will you fucking _shut up_?' It came out louder than she meant it to and the whole group laughed.

'Do you have a comment, Miss Jackson?' Mr Brunner asked.

She didn't let her embarrassment show. 'No sir.'

He pointed to an image on the _stele_. 'Perhaps you can tell us what this picture represents.' Nikki looked at the _stele_, happy to know she recognized what it was.

'It's the Titan Kronos eating his children.' She said and Mr Brunner signalled for her to continue. 'He did this because of a prophecy about his kids, the gods, overthrowing him but it was a self-fulfilling. He ate them all except for Zeus, who Rhea hid and gave Kronos a rock instead. When Zeus grew up, he tricked his father into barfing up his brothers and sisters –'

'Eeew!' said one of the girls behind me.

'- and there was this big fight and the gods won.' There, Greek history in three minutes.

Behind Nikki, Nancy mumbled to a friend, 'Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, "Please explain why Kronos ate his kids".'

'And why, Miss Jackson,' Brunner said, 'to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, doesthis matter in real life?'

'Busted.' Grover mutter and got a hissed 'shut up' from Nancy, her face brighter red than her hair. Nikki smirked at her. Brunner was the only one who ever caught Nancy saying something wrong, he had radar ears.

I struck a thinking pose. 'Hmm…well we wouldn't want to be blown up or turned into a rodent now do we?' I answered and the class laughed and got a smile from Brunner.

'Well, full credit, Miss Jackson.' He turned back to the class. 'Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs Dodds, would you lead us back outside?'

'How he expects us to eat after that story...' Nikki commented to Grover as they followed the others outside.

Grover and Nikki sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others, hoping that it would seem that we weren't from _that_ school – the school for loser freaks that couldn't make it elsewhere. Nancy was pickpocketing some old lady, of course, Mrs Dodds didn't see a thing. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicap ramp, eating celery while reading a paperback book, basically turning himself into a café table, umbrella and all.

'That's what I'm getting with the money I'm saving up,' she proclaimed to Grover, eyeing the wheelchair. 'Get it a nice size engine and we can chase Nancy around campus while we ate candy and drink soda.'

Grover shook his head. Nikki knew he agreed with her. 'You are horrible.'

'Why thank you.' she grinned maniacally and he snorted. She handed him an apple before putting earphones on and grabbing her sketchbook, letting her mind wonder. To the sky because it had been weird ever since Christmas and then to Sally, her mom, who would be disappointed if Nikki jumped into a cab right now to see her, though she would be glad to see me.

Suddenly Nancy popped out of nowhere, causing Grover to choke on his apple, and dumped her half eaten lunch in Grover's lap and pieces on her paper, which she flicked off quickly before it could seep into the paper and glared at Nancy. 'Opps.'

Nikki knew she should have stayed cool, to count to ten, to breath and all that shit that counsellors tell you to do to calm your temper but the temptation was just too much. A wave roared and the next thing Nancy knew was that she was soaking wet, sitting in the fountain and Nikki hid a smirk and chuckled.

'Nikki pushed me!' Nancy screamed and Mrs Dodds materialized next to them.

Some of the kids were whispering: 'Did you see –'

'- the water –'

'- like it grabbed her –'

As soon as Dodds made sure Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt, she turned on Nikki. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if Nikki had just done something she'd been waiting for all semester. 'Now, honey…' she began sweetly, 'come with me.'

'Wait!' Grover yelped. 'It was me. _I_ pushed her.'

Nikki looked at him stunned, knowing that Dodds scared the wits out of him, and Dodds glared at him so hard that his chin trembled.

'I don't think so Mr Underwood.' She said.

'But –'

'You – _will_ – stay – here.'

Nikki told him not to worry about it and gave Nancy her I'll-kill-you-later stare before turning back to Dodds, only to find her standing at the museum entrance, way at the top, gesturing for her to hurry up.

How'd she get there so fast?

Halfway up the stairs, she glanced back to Grover, who looked pale and kept glancing between her and Brunner, like he wanted him to notice what was going on but Brunner was too absorbed by his novel.

At first, Nikki thought that Dodds was going to make her buy a new shirt for Nancy from the museum gift shop only for them to walk right past it. Nikki followed Dodds deeper into the museum and began noticing that there was less and less people that she could see until they were back in the Greek and Roman section.

The gallery was completely empty now.

Mrs Dodds stood in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods and she was making this noise in her throat, like growling and even without the noise, Nikki was tensed and she was on high alert and it wasn't just because being alone with a teacher made anyone nervous, especially a teacher like Dodds _and_ when she looked like she wanted to pulverise the frieze.

'You've been giving us problems, honey,' she said.

Nikki just did what she did best in situations like this. She kept quiet.

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. 'Did you really think you would get away with it?' The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.

Thunder shook the building.

'We are not fools Nikki Jackson,' Dodds said. 'It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain.'

Nikki had no idea what she was talking about. The only thing she could think of was that the teachers had discovered her selling candy to the other students from her dorm room but it seemed that Dodds was talking about something else. Nikki wasn't even paying full attention anymore, she was more interested in the sound in her ears.

'Well?' Mrs Dodds demanded.

'I don't…'

'Your time is up.' She hissed and then she transformed. The sound got louder and she had to cover her ears, nearly doubling over as she watched Dodds rip off her skin. Her eyes began to glow like barbeque coals, her hands became talons and her jacket morphed into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human…she was a Fury.

Then things got stranger.

Mr Brunner, who had been out at the front of the museum, wheeled into through the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen.

'What ho, Nikki!' he shouted and tossed the pen only it wasn't a pen anymore when she caught it. Now it was a sword – Brunner's bronze sword that he brought on tournament days – but before she could look at it more, she had to dodge as what-use-to-be-Dodds lunged at her, feeling the talons slash the air.

Dodds turned to her, eyes murderous and lunged again, 'Die honey!'

Nikki stood strong and when Dodds was close enough, she swung the sword. The blade hit Dodds shoulder and passed right through her with a _hiss_ as if she was water. Mrs Dodds exploded into golden dust, vaporising on the spot, leaving nothing but a smell of sulphur, a dying screech and a chill in the air as if she was still watching her.

Nikki was alone.

With a ballpoint pen in her hand.

She stared at the pen and listened to the hum before pulling the lid off and it turned into the sword that she had just used to kill Mrs Dodds. She put the lid back on, turning it back to a pen and walked out of the museum to find that it was raining.

Grover was still by the fountain, a museum map over his head. Nancy was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her friends. When she saw Nikki, she said, 'Hoped Miss Kerr whooped your butt.'

'_Who?'_ Nikki thought but the hum was telling her to go along with it so she did and just ignored Nancy, since her ears were still ringing. She decided to try something and asked Grover where Mrs Dodds was.

He said, 'Who?' but he wouldn't look at her and he had paused before he had answer. One thing could be said about Grover was that he was a terrible liar. She walked over to Brunner and he put a show to take the pen-turned-sword out of her hand and she let him.

'_I need to meditate.'_


	2. Chapter 2

It was strange living in a twenty-four/seven hallucination where everyone thought that the perky blonde woman that got on to their bus at the end of the trip was their maths teacher since Christmas and that Mrs Dodds had never existed.

To measure the reality of the hallucination, Nikki would spring a Mrs Dodds reference, to see if they would trip up but all they gave her were funny looks. It continued like this that she almost believe that she had been imagining Mrs Dodds and the Fury she had become.

_Almost._

Grover couldn't fool her. He was a terrible liar and from someone who'd been lying for most of her life, his act wasn't convincing. Every time she mentioned Dodds, he would hesitate before telling her that there had never been a Mrs Dodds at Yancy.

It wasn't really that bad. It's not like she liked Mrs Dodds anyway and strange things tend to happen around since she came to the United States.

There was that man that had stalked her and had only backed off because the teachers had threaten to call the police (that was a strange experience in itself, teachers actually caring) and she could of sworn that he had only one eye, smack bang in the middle. At one of the schools that she had gone to since coming to the US, she had gone to the Saratoga battlefield and there was an accident with the revolutionary cannon. She wasn't aiming for the school bus but of course she got expelled anyway. The last school she had gone to had taking a behind-the scenes tour of Marine Word shark pool and the entire class ended up taking an unplanned swim. It wasn't her fault that someone pushed her into the offending lever but she got blames anyway.

The fact that she could talk to snakes, fish, horses and their cousins was moot point.

After the trip, Nikki became easily distracted, her ADHD acting up more than usual, despite her meditation, her nerves were on high alert as if expecting an attack, from what she had no idea. She was having hard time sleeping, since she was on high alert and her drawings were becoming weird, like the Minotaur in boxers. She fell asleep in class more often than before and her grades slipped, which didn't really matter, she wasn't returning next year. Surprisingly, she had lasted the entire year.

While she was happy to leave Yancy, she would miss Grover, he was a good friend, and wondered how he would survive without her next year. She would also miss Brunner and his Latin class; it was the only class that she payed attention to now because she couldn't help feeling like it would one day help her.

Ω

One of the nights that her insomnia kicked in, Nikki decided to walk around campus, exercising the skills that she had learnt over the time she spent on the streets, moulding into the shadows whenever someone crossed through the halls, all the while reading a book.

Nikki stopped by Mr Brunner's office when she heard voices. Most of the faculty offices were dark and empty but Brunner's was slightly ajar, light from his office stretching across the hallway floor.

A voice that was definitely Grover's said, '…worried about Nikki, sir.' She froze and began listening in.

'…alone this summer,' Grover was saying. 'I mean, a Kindly One in the _school_! Now that we know for sure, and _they_ know too –'

'We would only make matters worse by rushing her,' Brunner said. 'We need her to mature more.'

'Mature,' Grover deadpanned. 'Nikki's the most mature ten year old I know and the summer solstice deadline –'

'Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.' Nikki had to hide a snort at that.

'Sir, she saw her…'

'Her imagination,' Brunner insisted. 'The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that.'

'Sir, I…I can't fail in my duties again.' Grover's voice was choked with emotion. 'You know what that would mean.'

'You haven't failed, Grover.' Brunner said kindly. 'I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Nikki alive –'

Somewhere a door suddenly slammed close and Brunner went silent. Nikki slipped into a nearby door and heard a slow _clop-clop-clop_ and a shadow of something much bigger than her wheelchair-bound Latin teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow, paused in front of the door before continuing down the hallway. Seconds passed on.

Brunner's voice carried up from where he was, 'Nothing,' he murmured. 'My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice.'

'Mine neither,' Grover said. 'But I could of sworn…'

'Go back to the dorm,' Brunner told him. 'You've got a long day of exams tomorrow.'

'Don't remind me.'

The lights went out in Brunner's office and Nikki stood in the dark until she knew that everything was silent and then slipped out of the hallway, back to her dorm.

_'Something's going on.'_

Ω

On the last day of term, Nikki shoved her clothes into her suitcase.

The others were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland, another was going on a cruise in the Caribbean for a month. They were all juvenile delinquents like her but they were _rich_ juvenile delinquents, their daddies were executives or ambassadors or celebrities. She didn't care about that really

She knew she had enough money sitting in vaults to be inherited when she came of age to match and even beat them.

They asked her where she was going and she just grinned and said, 'You don't want to know,' and they stayed away from her, going back to their conversations as if she didn't exist, though she did get an enjoyment out of seeing them glancing back at her fearfully every now and then. The only thing she dreaded about leaving Yancy was saying goodbye to Grover but she needed have worried because he had booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as her.

Throughout the whole ride, Grover kept glancing up and down the aisle, watching the other passengers. He had always been fidgety and nervous whenever they left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Nikki had always assumed that he had been afraid of getting bullyed but there was no one to tease him on the bus.

She took a shot. 'Looking for Kindly Ones?'

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. 'Wha – what do you mean?' Nikki confessed to eavesdropping on him and Brunner the night before the exam and Grover's eye twitched. 'How much did you hear?'

'Oh…not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?'

Grover winced. 'Look, Nikki…I was just worried for you, see? I mean hallucinating about demon maths teacher and you weren't sleeping…'

'Grover –'

'And I was telling Brunner that you might be overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs Dodds or maybe you couldn't handle the sixth grade work…'

'Grover, you're a really, really bad liar.' His ears turned pink and he deflated.

'And…' she began, '…don't ever say I can't handle anything.' She stared at him blankly and Grover winced and seemed to shift away from her before reaching into his shirt pocket, fishing out a grubby business card. 'Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.'

The card was in fancy script, which would have been murder on her dyslexic eyes, and deciphered it to make something like:

_Grover Underwood, Keeper_

_Half-Blood Hill_

_Long Island, New York_

_(800)009-009_

'What's Half –'

'Don't say it out loud!' he yelped. 'That's my, um…summer address.'

Nikki looked at Grover, not really seeing rich boy. She thought he had been one of those rare people at Yancy that were allowed in without being rich. 'And to think I didn't teach you when I gave you my food.'

Grover grinned sheepishly. 'It's really so you can call me if you needed me.'

'Why would I need you?' she deadpanned.

He blushed right down to his Adam's apple. 'Well…I'm kind of have to protect you.'

Nikki looked at him incredulously. All year long she had beaten bullies off of him and crushed some manly pride as a ten year old beat kids twice her size and older than her. She had been worried about how he would survive next year without her and here he was acting like he was protecting _her_.

She couldn't help her reaction and whacked him over the head. 'I don't need your protection and what exactly are you protecting me from?'

A grinding noise sounded and the driver stopped the Greyhound at the side of the highway. The smoke that came from the dashboard smelled like rotten eggs, making everyone evacuate the bus. They were on a stretch of country road – no place you would notice unless you broke down there. On one side was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars, on the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering in the heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

But that wasn't what caught Nikki's attention. The 'music' had come back and she followed it the source to three old ladies sitting on rocking chairs in the shade and knitting the biggest pair of socks ever seen. These socks were the size of sweaters but they were definitely socks. The lady on the right knitted one, the one on the left knitted another while the one in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All the women looked ancient and they were staring right at her.

Nikki knew that these ladies weren't normal, in her context, she had a sneaking suspicion that they were like Mrs Dodds. She looked over to Grover to see that the blood had drained from his face and he was twitching. Nikki poked him.

'Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?'

'Yeah. You think those socks would fit me?'

'Not funny, Nikki. Not funny at all.' He tried to drag her back into the Greyhound but she stayed where she was. The lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long bladed, like shears - and cut the yarn. You could hear the _snip_ from across four lanes of traffic. _'Body bags. They're definitely body bags.'_

The driver finally fixed the problem with the engine and everyone piled back onto the bus. Nikki was feeling slightly feverish, as if she had caught the flu and Grover didn't look any better, he was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

'Grover?'

'Yeah?'

'What aren't you telling me?'

He dabbed his forehead. 'Nikki, what did you see back at the fruit stand?'

Nikki stared at him for a minute. 'They're like Mrs Dodds, aren't they.' It wasn't a question. The look on his face was hard to read but she got the feeling that those three old ladies were much, much worse than Mrs Dodds. He said, 'Just tell me what you saw.'

'The middle one took out her scissors and cut the yarn.'

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers like he was crossing himself but it wasn't. it seemed like something else, something older.'

'You saw her snip the cord.' He said and she nodded. He began chewing his them, mumbling 'This is not happening…not like last time.'

'What last time?'

'This always happens. They never reach it.'

He was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. 'Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.' it was a strange request but Nikki nodded anyway, he was too distracted to realise that she hadn't exactly promised him anything.

'Is this a superstition or something?' she asked. She got no answer. 'Grover – the snipping of the yarn, does it mean that someone's going to die?' Once again, she got no answer, just a mournful look from Grover, as if he was contemplating what kind of flowers she would like best on her coffin.


	3. Chapter 3

She ditched Grover when they reached the terminal.

She knew it was rude but truthfully, he was starting to freak her out, looking at Nikki as if she was already dead, muttering, 'Why does this always happen?' and 'Why does it have to be sixth grade?'

Whenever Grover got upset, his bladder would act up and just like clockwork, when they got off to the bus, he made a beeline for the restroom, after making sure that Nikki was waited for him. But instead of waiting, she slipped outside and hailed a cab. She wanted to see her mom.

'East One hundred and Fourth and First Avenue,' she told the driver.

Ω

Meet Sally Jackson, best person in the world according to Nikki which proved her theory that good people have rotten luck. Sally's parents had died in a plane crash when she was five and she was raised by an uncle that could care less about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing programme. Then her uncle got cancer and she quit school in senior year to take care of him. Her uncle died and she was left with no money, no family and no diploma.

According to Sally, her lucky break had come when she had met a man that led her to Nikki.

Truth was that Sally Jackson wasn't Nikki Jackson's mother, but she was in every way that mattered. Sally was actually Nikki's cousin, second cousin to be exact, and they had met when the relatives that she had been staying with came to New York and custody was quickly handed to Sally through the help of Nikki's 'little friends'. Her relatives were all too happy to hand her over.

With the help of the money in her vault, Nikki was able to get Sally back into school and they had been living like this for the last year and a half.

'Well, look who it is.'

Despite the money that they had, Sally insisted that they live in the same building with a man named Gabe Ugliano, something about what the man she had met had told her, who stunk like a mouldy garlic pizza and was a world-class jerk who she nicknamed Smelly Gabe. She disliked him immediately after meeting him, she reminded her too much of her uncle, though her uncle did take better care of his hygiene.

'Hello Smelly Gabe.' Nikki glared at him.

'Now now, show respect to your elders.' He mockingly waved a finger at Nikki and she glared harder.

'Earn it first you big oaf.' She waved her hand and his door closed, hitting him in the behind and she ran into the apartment as she snickered.

'Honey, have you been terrorising Gabe again?' Sally Jackson said, ironing the washing, her eyes glowing in amusement, her brown hair with a few grey streaks waving as she shook her head.

'Why of course dear mother of mine. I would be me if I didn't.'

Nikki heard a hoot and she smiled before dropping her bags and going over to the white owl sitting on its perch near the window.

'Hello Hedwig, how are you doing, girl?' Hedwig hooted and leaned into Nikki's had as she petted her. 'I'll give you a pampering later.' She hooted and went back to sleep.

Hedwig was a snowy owl and one of Nikki's first friends. She had been with Nikki since she was seven and had ever since, even coming to New York with her even if she wasn't suited for the weather. Hedwig was like a bossy big sister.

'Now tell me whatever you didn't put in your letters.' And so Nikki did, being careful to leave out the incident with Mrs Dodds out, not wanting to worry her mom especially with what was going to be happening next year.

'Well it sounds like you had fun.' Sally commented, sitting down. 'I've got a surprise for you. We're going to the beach.'

Nikki perked up. 'Montauk?'

'Same cabin – three nights.'

Nikki whooped. 'When are we going?'

'As soon as you're packed.'

Nikki picked up her bags and began repacking them as well as put Hedwig in her cage without waking her up too much. Within an hour, we were in the car, driving towards Montauk and as we got closer, Sally seemed to look younger.

The cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken in the dunes. There were always spiders in the cabinets and sand in the sheets and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. It was the place that Nikki and Sally first met so to them, it was the best place ever.

In the remaining light, the cabin was cleaned. They took walks on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy and all the other free samples Sally had gotten from work.

You're probably wondering about the blue food.

Smelly Gabe had once told her that there was no such thing as blue food and since then, with the mischievous streak she rarely ever showed, she went out of her way to eat blue food. Nikki thought it had something to do with the fact that Gabe had been flirting with Sally while also, at the same time, insulting Nikki.

When night came, they sat around the fire and talked about the coming year.

'You are definitely getting a house.' Nikki was saying.

'Nikki…' Sally sighed.

'No.' Nikki waved her hand. 'I'm going this September, so I won't be around much except for the summers so there's no need to stay around Smelly Gabe.'

She paused for a moment. 'Are you gonna tell me now why we stay around him?' she asked, putting in her puppy dog eyes.

Sally laughed before shaking her head. 'Nope. Maybe when you're older…or when he says so. Whichever comes first.'

'If I ever meet this man, I'm gonna drown him.' Nikki declared and Sally smiled. 'You can try.' She said mysteriously.

Ω

That night Nikki had a strange dream.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to killing each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

Nikki ran towards them, hoping to stop them from killing each other but she was running in slow motion.

She woke up with a start.

Outside, it really was storming, the kind that cracked trees and blew down houses. There were no animals on the beach, just lightning making false daylight and five metre high waves pounded the dunes. It was like the sky and sea were fighting.

_Hurricane_

Nikki knew that Long Island never saw hurricanes this early in summer but the sea seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, there was a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made her hair stand on end. But there was a much closer, like mallets in the sand, a desperate voice – someone yelling, pounding on the cabin door.

Sally sprang out of her bed and threw open the lock. Grover stood framed in the doorway againstr a backdrop of pouring rain. But it wasn't exactly…Grover anymore.

'Searching all night,' he gasped. 'What were you thinking?'

Sally looked at Nikki in terror – not scared of Grover, but of why he came.

'Nikki,' she said, shouting over the rain to be heard. 'What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?'

_'O Zeu kai alloi theoi!'_ he yelled. 'It's right behind me! Didn't you _tell_ her?'

Nikki wasn't listening to them to register that Grover had just cursed in Ancient Greek, she was listening to something else.

'_Nikki!_'

Over the rain, she could hear the angry roar getting louder and her mom's face was deathly pale in the flashing lightning. 'Get to the car. Both of you. Go!'

Nikki's head snapped up, interrupting her trance. Sally grabbed her jacket and grabbed Nikki's hand, dragging her towards the car as Grover ran beside them. But he wasn't exactly running. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly the fact that he could make every step that he took look painful and still run to be first in line for enchilada day in the cafeteria made sense.

Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.


	4. Chapter 4

They tore through the night along dark country roads, wind and rain slamming against the car. Nikki wasn't sure how her mom could see anything but she kept her foot on the gas. Every time lightning flashed, Nikki would look over to Grover sitting next to her in the back seat and catch a glimpse of his shaggy hindquarters. The smell of a wet barnyard animal was also unmistakable.

'Are you guys gonna tell me what's going on?!' Nikki yelled over the noise of the storm and engine. 'You obviously know!'

Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, looking for something. 'Nikki, now might not be a good time!'

'Honey,' Sally began nervously, 'this is what I wasn't allowed to tell you. Grover was keeping tabs on you. The rest will be explained at camp.'

Nikki left it at that and turned over to Grover. 'What _are_ you?'

'That doesn't matter right now.'

'It doesn't matter? My friend is half-donkey –'

Grover let out a sharp, throaty '_Blaa-ha-ha!' _It was a sound that she had heard before but she had always assumed that it was a nervous laugh. obviously she was wrong.

'Goat!' he cried.

'What?'

'I'm half _goat_.'

'Does it matter? My friend is half barn animal waist down!'

'_Blaa-ha-ha!_ There are satyrs who would trample you under foot for such an insult!'

'Kids!' Sally yelled. 'There's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety.'

'Safety from what? Who's after me?'

'Oh, nobody much,' Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. 'Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions.'

'Grover!'

'Sorry, Miss Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?'

Sally took a hard left and the car swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOU OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences. Nikki was trying to wrap her mind around what was happening, making sure it wasn't a dream. She had a strange imagination; she could dream something this weird up. She already had a mad man and his minions after her, what else was there.

_Where's Hedwig when you need her?_

Sally pulled the wheel in a hard right and Nikki got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid – a dark fluttering shape now lost behind them in the storm. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness – the kind of empty countryside you'd get way out in the tip of Long Island. Sally was muttering h=under her breath, 'We're almost there. Another mile. Please, please, please.'

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling _boom!_ and the car exploded. There was the feeling of weightlessness, like being crushed, fried and hosed down all at the same time. Nikki had to cover her ears as the hum turned into a full-blown noise. She peeled her forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, 'Ow.'

'Nikki!'

'I'm fine…'

It was tapping on the window that woke Nikki up. She wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded, they had swerved into a ditch. The driver-side doors were wedged in the mud and the roof was cracked open like an eggshell and the rain was pouring in. Lightning. That was the only explanation. They'd been blasted off the road, hit by lightning.

Next to her, there was a big motionless lump, which groaned, 'Food,' and she knew that Grover would be fine.

In a flash of lightning, through the mud covered rear windshield, there was a figure lumbering towards them on the shoulder of the road. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head, his bottom half was bulk and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

'Nikki,' Sally said, 'we have to…'

'Mom…' she interrupted, '…get my bag.' They climbed out of the car.

As the figure got closer, Nikki realised that he _couldn't _be holding a blanket over his head because his hands – huge meaty hands – were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning that the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head…was his head. And the points that looked like horns…

_This looks familiar…_

'You have to run, Nikki. Go to the big tree, it's the property line.'

'What?'

Another flash of lightning revealed what she had meant: a huge, White House Christmas-tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

'Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door.'

'You're coming with me.' Nikki stated and she grabbed Sally's arm before she could object.

'He doesn't want _us_,' Sally said. 'He wants you. I can't pass the property line.'

'I don't care. Help me with Grover.'

Nikki finally got a clear look of the monster. Seven feet tall, easy, with arms and legs stuffed with large muscles. He wore no clothes except bright white Fruit-of-the-Looms, which would have been funny if not for the top half of his body. Coarse brown hair started at about his bellybutton and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, black eyes and horns – enormous black-and-white horns.

It was looking suspiciously like one of her pictures. 'That's –'

'Pasiphae's son,' Sally said. 'Don't say his name. Names have powers.'

The bull-man hunched over the car, looking in the windows, though it was more like snuffling or nuzzling. She didn't know why he bothered, they were only about fifteen metres away. 'What's he doing? Can't he see us?'

'His sight and hearing are terrible,' she said. 'He goes by smell but he'll figure out where we are soon enough.

As if on cue, the bull-man roared in rage. He picked up the car by the torn roof, raised it over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed onto the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. Then the gas tank exploded.

'Nikki, when he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, and then jump to the side. He can't change direction very well once he's charging. Do you undertand?'

'And you know this…how?' Nikki had to ask.

'I'd been worried about an attack for a long time. I didn't really expect to need it so soon.'

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled them. In a few seconds, he would be on top of them.

The pine tree was only a few metres away but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter. Nikki decided to just levitate him up the rest of the way by himself.

'Nikki, separate!' though she didn't want to she did it anyway. She turned and saw the bull-man bearing down on her. He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at her chest.

She jumped to the side.

The bull-man stormed right pass her like a freight train and bellowed in frustration. He turned, but not towards her, towards her mom who had reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side, you could see a valley, just as Sally had said, and the lights of the farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But it was half a mile away; they'd never make it in time.

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground and eyeing Sally, who was slowly making her way back to the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

The monster charged her and Nikki froze, her mind finally not working in such a desperate time. Sally tried to sidestep, just like she told Nikki to do, but the monster had learnt its lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted up as she struggled, kicking and pummelling for air.

'Mom!'

She caught Nikki's eyes, managing to choke out one last word: 'Go!'

Nikki didn't hesitate. She opened her bag and pulled out what looked like red transparent marbles and threw them it the monster. As they flew towards the bull-man, they began to glow indigo and their speed increase, becoming like bullets of light, but they weren't fast enough. With an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Sally's neck and she melted into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash and she was simply…gone.

'No!'

Her anger pushed the bullets of light to go faster and hit harder, making the monster stumble. It turned around slowly while the lights zoomed around him. Suddenly the balls stopped and dived into the ground. Nikki thrust her arm out and vines shot out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the bull-man. She pulled her arm back in and the vines began glowing and pulling the bull-man into the ground until he was only head deep.

She raised her arm, finger pointed with more indigo lights spinning around her wrist. At the tip of her finger, a blue ball began to form and when it was about the size of a tennis ball, Nikki said in a monotonous voice, 'Fire' and like a laser; shot the bull-man's head. It dissolved in a golden light, similar to Mrs Dodds.

The storm still rumbled out in the distance but the rain had stopped. As Nikki hefted Grover onto her shoulder, she heard the sound of glass breaking but ignored it in favour of staggering into the valley, towards the light of the farmhouse. She felt numb.

Nikki collapsed onto her knees on the steps, dropping Grover on the wooden porch. There was a familiar-looking bearded man and a blonde, her hair curled like Cinderella, with grey stormy eyes, both of them looking down at her. The girl said, 'She's the one. She must be.'

'Silence, Annabeth,' the man said. 'She's still conscious.' And she was. Her body wasn't going to shut down until it was sure that she was safe.

'Bring her inside.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Luke444**: I have hints in the story about what the 'power-he-knows-not' is

Nikki didn't sleep a wink.

The familiar man that she had seen the night before had actually been her Latin teacher back at Yancy, Mr Brunner, except all the few kids that came into the infirmary were she stayed call him 'Chiron' like the Greek trainer of heroes that he taught to Nikki's class.

Nikki always knew that he wasn't completely normal, his hum had been louder than the rest, just like Mrs Dodds had been. Her skill needed more training.

To keep herself busy, she began creating more of her red marbles, noticing that she had less than she remembered and was slightly amazed that she packed so much power into them that some had shattered.

The marbles were created from her own blood, something she had discovered after one of her uncles bad days and they allowed her to channel her power more easily, though she tried not to become reliant on them. Sometimes, she would be able to see through the 'Mist', as her mother had called it, and be able to see what she had always been hearing, like the barrier that covered the whole of the camp.

She heard a hoot and a snowy white owl came through the window, surprising the boy on duty in the infirmary and had the guard with eyes all over his body, even on his tongue, to zoom in on it.

Hedwig landed on the headboard and Nikki allowed herself to relax and went to sleep, Hedwig keeping guard over her.

Ω

The one time she woke up was when someone began spoon feeding her something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. It was the girl that Nikki had seen when she first arrived and she smirked as she scraped drips off Nikki's chin.

Nikki drowsily looked up at the headboard, and seeing that Hedwig was still there, asleep but still there, allowed the curly blonde girl to continue feeding her.

When the girl noticed that she was awake, she asked, 'What will happen at the summer solstice?'

'What?' Nikki croaked.

She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. 'What's going on? What was stolen?' We've only got a few weeks!'

Hedwig woke up and hooted, flapping her wings. Nikki turned over to the other side and went back to sleep, not wanting to be questioned while she was still incoherent.

Ω

Nikki finally came around for good and woke up in a deck chair on a huge porch, a meadow and green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over her legs and a pillow behind her neck. Her tongue was dry and nasty and every one of her teeth hurt.

Hedwig was next to her, asleep, and there was a letter was still attached to her, something Nikki hadn't noticed before. She took it off and found it was a bank statement and a reminder. She folded it up and was about to put it in her beanie when she realized that she wasn't wearing anymore.

She frowned. The beanie wasn't just a hat that she wore to keep her long dark hair out of the way; it was also an endless pocket where she could put important things like bank statements and it never get full. She could always keep it with her and it would never be stolen. She decided to calm down since Hedwig wasn't putting up a fuss and looked around again.

On the table next to her was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice with a green straw and paper parasol stuck in a maraschino cherry. Nikki grabbed it but her hands were so weak that she almost dropped the glass once she got her fingers around it.

'Careful,' a familiar voice said.

Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week, though she was sure that was the look that was supposed to be on her face. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, not the goat boy but she knew better.

He was also holding her beanie.

She raised her arm. 'Beanie.'

Grover laughed, he knew how important the beanie was to her, though it could have been the fact that he had seen her without it once that made him quickly hand it over. Her hair always looked like a birds nest.

'You saved my life,' he said as Nikki put the beanie on, file and all. 'Everyone was shocked when they saw the hole that you had somehow buried the monster in. After that display of power, everyone thought that you'd be out for a week, especially when you didn't go unconscious the night you came but it's only been three days since you finally went offline.'

He sobered up. 'Your mother…I'm sorry. I'm a failure. I'm – I'm the worst satyr in the world.' He moaned, stomping his foot so hard the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hoof.

'Oh, Styx!' he mumbled

Nikki sighed and stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of her, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.

That wasn't right. She just lost another person that would care for her, the world shouldn't be beautiful. It should be black and cold, just like before.

Despite her depressing thought, she through one of her marbles at Grover, hitting it smack bang in the middle of his forehead and took a sip of the drink still in her hand. She was taken aback by the fact that it didn't taste like apple juice but like the chocolate chip cookies that Sally often made. Drinking it, she felt warm and good, full of energy and the next thing she knew, she'd drained the glass.

'What is this?' Nikki asked.

'Um…nectar.' Grover said, taking the glass out of Nikki's hands gingerly, as if were dynamite, and set it back on the table. 'How do you feel?'

'Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred metres.'

'Good, that's good,' he said. 'I don't think you should risk drinking any more of this stuff. Come on, Chiron and Mr D are waiting.'

Ω

They walked to the opposite end of the house onto the porch which went around the farmhouse. They must have been on the North shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to Long Island Sound, which glittered about a mile in the distance.

The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture – an open air pavilion, an amphitheatre, a circular arena – except they all looked brand ne, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range, others rode horses down a wooded trail, and some horses even had wings.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table and the girl who had fed Nikki the pudding and interrogated her was leaning on the porch rail next to them.

'That's Mr D,' Grover said, pointing to the man facing their direction. He was small but porky. He looked like a cherub that turned middle-aged in a trailer park, a big red nose, big watery eyes and black curly hair, wearing a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt and looked like he could fit into one of Gabe's poker nights but Nikki got the feeling that he could out-gamble all of them. If this guy was a stranger to alcohol, Nikki was a satyr.

'He's the camp director, be polite. That girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper but she's been here longer than just about anyone. And you already know Chiron…'

He was right, she did know. It was Mr Brunner, except he wasn't Brunner here, he was Chiron.

Chiron turned and caught sight of them. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes, something he sometimes got whenever he made all the multiple choice answers on a pop quiz _B._

'Nikki! Good to see you up though it's a surprise that you're up so early,' he said and offered her a seat.

Nikki shrugged, 'I've always been fast at recovery.'

Mr D, who looked at her with bloodshot eyes, heaved a great sigh. 'Oh, I suppose I have to say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you.'

Nikki stared at him for a moment. 'Are you drunk?' she blurted out.

Mr D snorted and out the corner of her eye, she could see Annabeth regain her balanced on the railing and hear Grover cough.

'Oh, I wish little girl.' Mr D said, staring mournfully at the can of coke in his hands.

'Annabeth?' Chiron called the blonde girl over and he introduced them. 'Annabeth nursed you back to health, Nikki. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you check on Nikki's bunk? We'll be putting her in cabin eleven for now.'

Annabeth said, 'Sure, Chiron.'

She was Grover's age, or at least what had been his age when they were in school since she remembered something about satyrs ageing slower than humans. With her tan skin and blond hair, she looked like a stereotypical California girl but the image was ruined by her eyes. They were a startling grey, like storm clouds: pretty, but intimidating too, as if she was analysing the best way to take Nikki down in a fight.

Nikki stared at her then said, 'Hedwig doesn't like you, though I am surprised she didn't scratch you.' Annabeth seemed to twitch before heading off to wherever 'cabin eleven' was.

'So I know Mr Brunner is Chiron but what does Mr D stand for?'

Mr D stopped shuffling the cards and looked at her as if she had just belched loudly. 'Young lady, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason.'

'Right.' _A name defines it, gives it meaning_.

'I must say Nikki,' Chiron broke in. 'I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time.'

'House call?'

'My year at Yancy to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout but Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special,so I decided to travel upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to…ah, take a leave of absence.'

Nikki tried to remember the beginning of the year but all she got was a fuzzy memory, which was odd because she usually remembered things.

'You came to Yancy to teach me? Why?'

'I asked the same thing.' Mr D broke in.

Chiron nodded. 'Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first, you weren't struggling like most of the campers. We contacted your mother, letting her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn, though you were more mature than most ten year olds. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that is always the first test.'

'Are you playing or not?' Mr D said impatiently, which got a 'Yes, sir!' from Grover, who looked afraid of the pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.

'You _do_ know how to play pinochle?' Mr D eyed her suspiciously.

'No, sir.' She replied, automatically adding the 'sir'.

'Well,' he told her, 'it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all _civilised_ young men and women to know the rules.'

She slammed her fist into her open palm. 'That's why I don't know it,' she said in mock awe. She turned back to Chiron and asked, 'What is this place and why am I here?' as the camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.

Chiron smiled sympathetically. 'Nikki,' he said. 'Did your mother tell you nothing?'

'Of course not,' Nikki replied immediately. 'Mom told me that she would explain eventually but until then, ignorance was something we agreed on.'

'That's how they usually get killed. Young lady, are you bidding or not?' Mr D asked. She did and leaned back in her chair.

'Can we just get to the point?' she sighed.

'I'm afraid that the orientation film will not do. There's too much to tell.' Chiron sighed. 'Well, Nikki. You know Grover is a satyr. You know that you killed a minotaur, no small feat. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods – the forces you call Greek gods – are very much alive.'

'Wait, you're telling me there's such a thing as God.'

'Well, now,' Chiron said. 'God – capital _G_, God, that's a different matter altogether, we shan't deal with the metaphysical. But, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavours: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter.'

'You mean the gods we discussed in Latin class. But aren't they stories.'

'Nikki, the fact it that _immortal _means immortal. Can you imagine for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time.'

Anybody else would have said that immortality sounded like a pretty good deal, but as someone who once had wish to die with every part of her being, she looked deeper into Chiron's question.

'You mean, whether people believe you or not,' she said.

'Exactly,' Chiron agreed. 'If you were god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Nikita Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little girls get over losing their mothers?'

Chiron was trying to make her angry, but Nikki had always been a champion of controlling her emotions. 'So why should I believe in gods?'

'Oh, you'd better,' Mr D murmured. 'Before one of them incinerates you.' He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

'Mr D,' Chiron warned, 'your restrictions.'

'Mr D looked at the glass and feigned surprise. 'Dear me.' He looked at the sky and yelled, 'Old habits! Sorry!' Mr D waved his hand again, and the wine glass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.

Chiron winked at Nikki. 'Mr D offended his father a while back, took fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits.'

'Yes,' Mr D confessed. 'Father loves to punish me. The first time, prohibition, ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time – well, she was really pretty, and I couldn't stay away – he sent me here, Half-Blood Hill, summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he said to me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down,' Ha! Absolutely unfair.'

Mr D sounded like a pouting little six years old.

'Your father…?'

'_Di immortals_, Chiron,' Mr D said. 'I thought you said she was your best student. She should at least know the basics.'

'Alas, she did better with the language than the stories.'

_Grover is a satyr and he's flinching and cowering before Mr D. Mr D smells like wine and likes it from the way he sadly summoned the Diet Coke can and is prohibited from making it._

'You're Dionysus,' Nikki said. 'The god of wine.'

Mr D rolled his eyes. 'What do they say these days, Grover? 'Well, duh!'?'

'Y-yes, Mr D.'

'Then, 'Well, duh!' Nikita Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?'

'You're a god.'

'Yes, child.'

'A god. You.'

He turned and looked straight at Nikki. Nikki saw a purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that the whiny, plump little man was only showing the tiniest bit of his true nature. There were visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned into flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. Nikki knew that this was just a little bit of Dionysus' power and that he could show her worse things that would leave her wearing a straitjacket in a rubber room for the rest of the life. But the insanity had spread into a part of her mind that she made sure to close off.

A piercing scream resonated in her head and she clutched her head, silently screaming before falling out of her chair and began shaking, like she was having a seizure.

'Nikki!'

'Mr D, what did you do?'

Mr D had a slightly surprised expression. 'Chiron, what an interesting half-blood you've brought into camp. Not only was she once on the track to insanity but she's got a little tag along too.' If he had a beard, he probably would have stroke it.

His comment got a confused look from both Chiron and Grover but Nikki understood perfectly.

'L-leave i-it a-alone-e,' she said. 'I n-nee-ed it.'

'Ha ha ha! If you're sure, okay!' Mr D laughed and stood up to stretch. 'I'm tired. I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, _again_, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment.'

Grover's face was beaded with sweat, but he looked hesitant to leave Nikki the way she was until Nikki told him to go, she wasn't shaking anymore. Mr D turned to her, 'Cabin eleven, Nikki Jackson and mind your manners.' He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following behind miserably.

Chiron looked at Nikki, a bit troubled but she assured him that she was fine as she sat back in a chair, massaging her forehead. 'Old Dionysus isn't really mad, he just hates his job. He's been…ah, grounded, I guess you can say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed back to Olympus.'

'Mount Olympus.' Nikki mumbled. 'Where exactly is that?'

'The gods move with the heart of the west, Nikki. Different names perhaps but the same forces, wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. So Olympus is here and so we are here.'

Chiron began to stand up, and even though a part of Nikki told her to help him because he was paralysed waist down, it was drowned out by the 'wait-and-see' feeling. It was a good thing because out of the chair came a huge white stallion but where there was its neck should be was the upper body of her Latin teacher.

Nikki raised an eyebrow, 'You're a centaur, Chiron.'

'Yes child,' Chiron confirmed. 'What a relief. I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now come, Nikki Jackson. Let's meet the other campers.'


	6. Chapter 6

Most of the campers were older than Nikki and their satyr friends much bigger than Grover, all trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else covering their shaggy hindquarters. As Chiron led the tour of the camp, campers would nudge their friends and point at Nikki, whispering, 'That's _her_.'

Looking at the farmhouse, Nikki realised that it was a lot bigger then she had first though – four storeys tall, sky blue with white trims, like an upmarket seaside resort. Nikki's eyes were drawn to the uppermost window of the attic when she felt herself being watch. Something had moved the curtain.

Nikki asked what was up there. His reply was 'not a single living thing.'

Ω

They passed strawberry fields that were growing like crazy, something about Mr D having an effect on fruit-bearing plants. Campers were picking the strawberries while satyrs played reed pipes, causing bugs to fly off. Seeing the satyr reminded her of Grover and she asked Chiron if he would be alright.

'He was a good protector, really.'

Chiron sighed and took off his tweed jacket, draping it over his horses back like a saddle. 'Grover has big dreams, Nikki. To reach his goal, he had to demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a Keeper, finding a new camper and bringing them safely to camp.'

'But he did that!'

'I might agree with you,' Chiron said. 'But it is not my place to judge, that place goes to Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders. I'm afraid they might not see this assignments as a success, after all, Grover lost you in New York and then there was the unfortunate…ah…_fate_ of your mother. Grover was also unconscious when you came over the property line. The Council might question whether that shows any courage on Grover's part.'

'He'll get a second chance, won't he?'

Chiron winced. 'I'm afraid that _was_ his second chance. After what happened the first time, five years ago, the Council was reluctant to give him another chance. I advised him to wait longer…he's still so small for his age.'

'How old is he?'

'Oh, twenty eight.'

'And he still looks like a twelve year old!'

'Satyrs age half as fast as humans, though Grover is what you'd call a late bloomer. He's been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years.' Nikki made a face.

'Come, Nikki. Let's see the woods.'

Ω

The forest was huge, taking about a quarter of the valley, with tall and thick trees. The closer they got to the woods, the louder the hum seemed to get. It took Nikki awhile for her to realized that there were things in there of the magical kind.

Chiron said, 'The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck but go in armed.'

'Stocked with what?' she asked.

'You'll see. Capture the flag is on Friday. Do you have your own sword and shield?' Nikki gave him a funny look.

'No. I don't suppose you do.'

They saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin ranger, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where they held sword and spear fights and the mess hall, which was an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.

Finally, Chiron showed Nikki the cabins. Twelve cabins nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. They were the most bizarre collection of buildings ever seen.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which was murder on the eyes in the sunlight. They all faced a common area about the size of soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountain, flower beds and a couple of basketball hoops. In the middle was a huge stone-lined firepit, with a girl about nine years old tending to the flames.

The cabins as the head of the field, numbers one and two, were like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve, its polished bronze doors shimmering like a holograph so from different angles lightning bolts streaked across them. Cabin two was more graceful, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers, the walls carved with images of peacocks.

'Zeus and Hera?' Nikki guessed.

'Correct.' Chiron confirmed.

'Their cabins look empty.'

'Several of the cabins are, that's true. No one ever stays in one or two.'

So every cabin belonged to a different god, twelve cabins for twelve Olympians. But what about the other gods?

Nikki stopped at the first cabin on the left, cabin three. It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough grey stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. It felt familiar that Nikki peeked into the open doorway and Chiron said, 'Oh, I wouldn't do that!'

Before he could pull her back, she caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore of Montauk. Inside, the walls glowed like abalone with six empty bunk beds but there was no sign that anyone had ever slept there. It was sad and lonely and Nikki was glad that Chiron took her away.

Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.

Five was bright red – it looked like the colour had been splashed on with buckets and fists – the roof was lined with barbed wire and a stuffed boar had hung over the doorway. Inside there was a bunch of kids that reminded her strongly of her cousin but they looked tougher. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen, wearing a XXXL Camp Half-Blood T-shirt under a camouflage jacket and she seemed to zoom in on Nikki, sneering at her.

'Chiron…are you really…'

He smiled down at her. '_The _Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Nikki, I am.'

'Why are you here?'

'You see, aeons ago, the gods granted my wish so I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I've gained much…and I've given up much but I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed.'

'Doesn't it get depressing?'

'Very,' Chiron sighed. 'Oh, look, Annabeth is waiting for us.'

Ω

Out of all the cabins, number eleven looked the lost like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on _old_. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling and above the doorway hung a caduceus – two snakes wrapped around pole. Inside, it was packed with people, boys and girls, way more than the number of bunks. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation centre with sleeping bags spread all over the floor.

'Cabin eleven,' Chiron said, gesturing to the doorway. 'Make yourself at home.' He didn't go in, the door was too low but when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully. Chiron wished her luck and galloped away.

Nikki looked at the kids and the kids looked at her, sizing her up. 'Nikki Jackson, meet cabin eleven.'

'Regular or undetermined?' somebody asked.

'Undetermined.' Annabeth answered, whatever it meant, and everybody groaned.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. 'Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. 'Welcome, Nikki. You can have the spot right over there.' He pointed to a small bit of space on the floor.

He was about nineteen, tall and muscular with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cut offs, sandals and a leather necklace with five different-coloured clay beads. The only unsettling this about him was the thick white scar that ran just beneath his right eye to his jaw.

'This is Luke.' Annabeth said, sounding different and when Nikki looked over, she could of sworn that Annabeth had been blushing before her expression hardened when she saw Nikki watching. 'He's your counsellor for now.'

'For now?'

'You're undetermined,' Luke explained patiently. 'They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally we would, our patron, Hermes is the god of travellers.'

She looked around at the camper's faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing her as if they were waiting for the chance to pick her pockets. She hugged her bag and glared at those people who then tried to look innocent.

'How long will I be here?' she asked.

'Good question,' Luke said. 'Until you're determined.'

'How long does that usually take?'

'Oh, however long it will take.'

Nikki sighed, 'So I'm stuck in a cabin with thieves for an undetermined amount of time. Oh, joy.' The campers laughed.

'Come one,' Annabeth said. She grabbed Nikki's wrist and dragged her outside.

Ω

'Let me go!' Nikki snagged her arm back.

'Jackson, you have to do better than that.' Annabeth said, turning around to face Nikki.

'What?'

She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, 'I can't believe I thought you were the one.'

Nikki got angry. 'What's your problem? The only thing I know is that I killed some bull guy –'

'Don't talk like that!' Annabeth admonished her. 'You know how many kids in this camp wish they had your chance?'

'To what? Watch their moms disappear right before their eyes? Because if they do, just point me in the right direction and I'll make their mothers disappear, only to be found dead somewhere in a ditch!'

That shut Annabeth up.

'If all they want is to get killed then they really should get their priorities straight.'

It must have been a weird sight, a ten year old scolding a twelve year old for being insensitive.

'Look,' Annabeth started, looking slightly scolded and Nikki crossed her arms. 'I'm sorry about you mom…it's just that everyone wants a chance to kill a monster.'

'Well, if they want it, go and get it. Those who wait usually get the leftovers of someone else's hard work.' Nikki shot back. 'Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Its crowded when there are plenty of bunks over there.' She pointed to the first few cabins and Annabeth turned pale.

'You don't just choose a cabin, Nikki. It depends on who your parents are. Or…your parent.' Annabeth stared at her, waiting for her to get it.

'Anyone I could consider family is dead.' Nikki stated with conviction.

'That's not what I meant. I'm talking about your father.'

'Never met him. He's dead.'

Annabeth sighed, she clearly had this conversation before. 'You're father's not dead, Nikki.'

'How can you tell?'

'Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us.'

'You know nothing about me.'

'No?' she raised her eyebrow. 'I bet you moved around a lot from school to school, probably diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD too. Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. Your brain is hardwired to ancient Greek. And your ADHD, those are your battle reflexes, they keep you alive in a fight and make your sense better than a regular mortal.

'You wouldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar.' She looked slightly smug.

After Annabeth's rant, Nikki had to laugh. It wasn't a nice laugh either. It was cold and hollow, not something that should be heard from a child. The smirk that Nikki sent to Annabeth sent chills down back. 'You know nothing about me.'

The moment was interrupted by a husky voice. 'Well! A newbie!'

It was the girl from cabin five with three other girls behind her, all big, ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing cameo jackets.

'Clarisse,' Annabeth sighed. 'Why don't you go and polish your spear or something?'

'Sure, Princess,' the big girl said. 'So I can run you through with it on Friday.'

'_Errete es korakas,_' Annabeth said which Nikki translated as Greek for 'Go to the crows'. 'You don't stand a chance.'

'We'll pulverise you,' Clarisse said but her eye twitched. She turned towards Nikki, who had been silent.

'Nikki Jackson,' Annabeth said, 'meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares.'

Nikki just stared but Clarisse seem to take offence by her silence and growled. 'We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Jackson.'

Clarisse grabbed her by the neck and begun dragging her towards the cinder-block building that was quickly identified as the bathrooms. There was a line of toilets on one side and showers on the other and smelled like any public bathrooms. Nikki barely struggled as they dragged her, Annabeth following behind and watching between her fingers.

'Like she's 'Big Three' material,' Clarisse said as she pushed Nikki towards a toilet. 'The Minotaur probably died laughing.' Her friends laughed with Clarisse. _She obviously hadn't heard about the Minotaur being buried_. Clarisse got Nikki on her knees and attempted to shove her head into the toilet water.

_I'm not going in there._

There was a gurgling sound and water shot out of the toilet, making an arch over Nikki's head and hitting Clarisse straight in the face, pushing her backwards. She struggled and gasped, her friends coming towards her when the other toilets exploded too, even the showers started acting up and they were pushed out the door.

The entire bathroom was flooded and even Annabeth hadn't been spared by the water attack, though she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in the same place in shock.

In the middle of all the water, the only dry place, sat Nikki. She stood up from where she stood and walked out the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud with a bunch of campers standing around, gawking. Clarisse's hair was flattened, her camouflage jacket sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave Nikki a look of absolute hatred. 'You are dead, new girl. You are totally dead.'

Nikki smirked and jumped down in front of Clarrisse. She leaned down, getting into Clarisse's face and whispered, 'You won't be the first to try.'

Nikki walked off, extruding an aura that made people back off, with Annabeth following. She looked thoughtful. 'I think…I want you on my team for capture the flag.'


	7. Chapter 7

Word of the bathroom incident spread quickly. Everywhere Annabeth and Nikki went, campers would stop and point at them murmuring something about toilet water, though they could just be staring at Annabeth who was still dripping wet.

Nikki scolded herself for going out of control but, to be honest with herself, she couldn't really feel bad about what she had done to Clarisse. Nikki knew that she could have done much worse than destroy Clarisse's ego.

Annabeth showed Nikki a few more places: the metal shop (where kids forged their own swords), the arts-and-craft room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropping boulders, sprayed lava and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough, and then finally the canoe lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

'I've got training to do,' Annabeth said flatly. 'Dinner's at seven thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall.'

'I'm sorry about the toilets,' Nikki said but the look on Annabeth's face told her that she didn't believe her. 'I don't know what happened.' It was true, Nikki had no idea what had happened, she had kind of blanked out as soon as the plumbing started rumbling.

'You need to talk to the Oracle,' Annabeth said.

'Who?'

'Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron.'

Nikki sighed, wishing someone would give her a straight answer. She stared into the lake, looking at the two teenage girls wearing blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, their brown hair floating loosely around their shoulders, sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about five metres below. They waved at her as if she were a long lost friend. Having no idea what else to do, Nikki waved back.

'I want to go home now.'

Annabeth frowned. 'Don't you get it? You _are_ home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us.'

'Like what? Kids that believe the world is all fun and games?'

'I mean _not human_. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human.'

'And half-what?'

'I think you know.'

Nikki raised an eyebrow and Annabeth sighed. 'Your father isn't dead, Nikki. He's one of the Olympians.'

'That's…crazy.'

'Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?'

'Then who's your dad?'

Annabeth's hand tightened around the pier railing. Nikki felt like she had trespassed into a sensitive area.

'My dad is a professor at West Point,' she said. 'I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history.'

'He's human.'

'What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?'

'Well sorry,' Nikki drawled, 'for knowing that most of the goddesses have taken oaths to be maidens forever or aren't known for betraying their husbands.' Annabeth blushed and Nikki sighed. 'Who is your mom, then?'

Annabeth straightened. 'Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Battle.'

Nikki looked confused. 'How does _that_ work?'

'Through the sharing of knowledge.' _Okay…why not?_

'And my dad?'

'Undetermined,' Annabeth said, 'like I said before. Nobody knows until he sends a sign, it's the only way to know for sure. Sometimes it happens.'

'And sometimes it doesn't.' Nikki stated, remembering the depressed and sullen teenagers in the Hermes cabin, all waiting for a call that would never come. She'd known a lot of kids like that at Yancy Academy, shipped off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them.

'So I'm stuck here,' she said. 'That's it? For the rest of my life?'

'It depends,' said Annabeth. 'Some campers only stay for the summer. If you're not a powerful force then the monsters might ignore you so you might get by with a few months of training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monster and they come to challenge us. Most of the time they'll ignore us until were old enough to cause trouble – about ten or eleven – but after that most demigods either make their way here or they get killed off. Few manage to survive outside and become famous, if you knew the names, you'd know them and some don't even know they're demigods but there are very, very few of those.'

'So monsters can't get in here?'

Annabeth shook her head. 'Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summon by somebody inside, usually as practical fights or jokes. The borders are sealed to keep mortals and monster out. From outside, mortals see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm.'

'You're a year rounder?'

She nodded and she pulled from under her collar a leather necklace like Luke's except Annabeth's had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring. 'I've been here since I was seven, longer than most counsellors and they're all in college,' she said. 'Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year.'

_Just like my 'life-days.'_

'So I could just walk out of here right now if I wanter to?'

'I would be suicide,' Annabeth stated. 'But you could with Mr D's or Chiron's permission but they wouldn't give it until the end of the summer unless…'

'Unless?'

'You were granted a quest, but that hardly happens since last time…' her voice trailed off/ you could tell that the last time had not gone well.

Nikki thought back to the time she woke up to Annabeth feeding her ambrosia. 'Back in the sick room, you asked me something about the summer solstice.'

Annabeth's shoulders tensed. 'So you _do_ know something?'

'No.' Nikki shook her head. 'Back at my old school I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover said something about a deadline and not having much time. What did it mean?'

She clenched her fists. 'I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they wont tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal.'

'You've been to Olympus?'

'Some of the year-rounders, took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when they do their big annual council.'

'How'd you get there?' Nikki frowned.

'The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station and go to the Empire State Building, take a special elevator to the six-hundredth floor.' She looked at Nikki like she was sure that she should know this already. 'You _are _a New Yorker, right?'

'Oh, sure,' said Nikki. 'Sorry for knowing that the Empire State Building only has a hundred and two floors.'

'Right after we visited.' Annabeth continued, 'the weather got weird like the gods were fighting. A couple of times, I've overheard the satyrs saying something important was stolen and if it's not returned by the summer solstice, there'll be trouble. When you came, I was hoping we could work together. I thought you might know something.

'I've got to get a quest,' Annabeth muttered to herself. 'I'm _not_ too young. If they would just tell me the problem…'

The smell of barbeque reached them and Annabeth told Nikki to go on. Nikki left her on the pier, her fingers tracing across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.

Ω

Back in cabin eleven, no on paid attention to Nikki as she sat watching the other campers, waiting for dinner. She noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles – the kind teachers would peg as troublemakers.

Luke, the counsellor, came over. He also had the Hermes family resemblance, marred only by the scar but his smile was still intact.

'Found you a sleeping bag,' he said. 'And I stole you some toiletries from the camp store.'

Nikki accepted the gifts and said, 'You didn't get caught, did you?'

Luke laughed. 'Nah. I'm a son of Hermes, we're champion thieves.'

Nikki hmm'd and pulled out a wallet, taking the money and throwing it back at Luke's surprised face. 'Good at taking things out of pockets but obviously not keeping them in.'

Luke stared at the wallet dumbly and then his face broke into a grin. 'Hey, you might be a Child of Hermes!'

Nikki shrugged. 'You've gotta have certain skills to survive on the streets.' She then looked thoughtful. 'Is it strange that I have an urge to hit Annabeth sometimes?'

Luke sat down beside her. 'Depends on the reason why.'

'Twice, she called me 'the one' and then something about talking about seeing The Oracle.'

He sighed. 'I hate prophecies.'

'What do you mean?'

His face around the scar twitched. 'Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. Ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed anymore quest. Annabeth's been dying to get out in the world. She pestered Chiron so much until he told her he already knew her fate, a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing but he said Annabeth had to wait for…somebody special to come to camp.

'Somebody special.'

'Don't worry about it, kid,' Luke said. 'Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through is the one she's been waiting for.'

'If she wanted to get out in the world, she should break the rules and step out of camp,' muttered Nikki.

A horn blew in the distant and Luke yelled, 'Eleven, fall in!'

The whole cabin, about twenty, filed into the commons yard and lined up in order of seniority. Campers came from the other campers too, except for the empty cabins at the end and eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, began to glow silver as the sunset. Satyrs joined them from the meadow, naiads emerged from the canoeing lake and a few other girls came, melting straight out from the side of trees in the woods and skipping down the hill.

Torches blazed around the marble columns of the pavilion. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier to size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloths trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded so Nikki decided to sit on the floor.

Grover sat a table twelve with Mr D, a few satyrs and two plump boys who looked like Mr D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being too small for him. Annabeth sat at six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her grey eyes and blonde hair. Clarisse sat at five, beside eleven. She had apparently gotten over being hosed down because she was belching and laughing alongside her friends.

Finally Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor and everyone fell silent. He raise his glass, 'To the gods!'

Everybody else raised their glasses. 'To the gods!'

Wood nymphs came forth with platters of food.

Nobody immediately started eating; they were carrying their plates towards the fire in the centre of the pavilion. 'Come on,' Luke said and as she got closer, she saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.

Luke murmured into Nikki's ear, 'Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell.' Nikki gave him an incredulous look and he warned her not to take this lightly.

When it was her turn, she scrapped in a big slice of brisket. _Tell me who you are, please._ As the food burned, she caught a whiff of the smoke and was surprised that it smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did.

When everyone had returned to their seats and finished their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again. Mr D got up with a huge sigh. 'Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin fice currently holds the laurels.'

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.

'Personally,' Mr D continued, 'I couldn't care less but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper toady. Nicole Johnson.'

Chiron murmured something.

'Er, Nikki Jackson,' Mr D corrected. 'That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on.'

Everyone cheered. When the campers reached the amphitheatre, Hedwig flew in, drawing everyone's eyes. 'Hey, girl,' said Nikki, stroking the owl's chest. 'A little dramatic, isn't it?' Hedwig just puffed out her chest.

The sing-along was led by the Apollo cabin, singing songs about the gods and eating toasted marshmallows. Surprisingly, it was fun.

Ω

Nikki didn't fall asleep straight away.

She was exhausted but her insomnia was acting up again. She wasn't uncomfortable with the small amount of space; she had gotten use to small spaces during her time in the cupboard under the stairs, but she couldn't go to sleep even with Hedwig there.

Nikki got up, taking her sleeping bag with her, and walked out into the commons yard, Hedwig on her shoulder. In the centre of the field was the hearth, still being attended by the nine year old girl, who turned when Nikki approached.

'Can I stay here tonight?' Nikki asked.

'Of course, child.' The little girl said. 'My name is Hestia.'

'My name is Nikki Jackson.' Since she couldn't get to sleep, she might as well take advantage of the stars tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

The next few days, Nikki settled into a routine. Each morning she took Ancient Greek with Annabeth, talking about the gods and goddesses, and found that Annabeth had been right about Ancient Greek being easier to read.

The rest of the day, Nikki would rotate through outdoor activities, seeing whatever she was good at, like canoeing.

Chiron tried to teach her archery but he shouldn't have bothered, she could never hit the target. Her arrows going too far or not far enough and they tended to go all over the place, campers having to duck before they were impaled. Chiron never complained, even when one of her arrows had to be de-snagged out of his tail.

Foot racing? She was pretty good, having done a lot of running at a young age from bullies. She wasn't as fast as the wood-nymph instructor but she was good enough to keep up with the children of Hermes.

Wrestling? It wasn't really Nikki's forte and every time she got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize her. 'There's more where that came from, punk,' she'd mumble into Nikki's ear. Of course, Nikki got her back, usually by dumping water on her at different times of the day.

During her free time, she would be on the beach drawing or in the woods, where no one could find her until she came out, to practice with her marbles. The only ones who knew what she did in the forest were the animals and wood-nymphs that drifted by.

Her nights were either spent sleeping or outside whenever her insomnia kicked in. For some reason the harpies had yet to catch her.

Nikki knew that the senior campers and counsellors were watching her, trying to figure out who her father was, but they seemed to be leaning in the direction of Hermes because whenever someone stole her things, she would steal it back and steal something of theirs. She could be seen wearing other peoples clothes and be stealing off their plates without them knowing until it was gone.

Ω

Thursday afternoon, three days after Nikki arrived at Camp Half-Blood; she had her first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be the instructor.

They started with basic stabbing and slashing using straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armour. Nikki was doing fine but she was having a problem with her sword. The blade didn't feel right, they mostly felt heavy or didn't feel right in general. Luke tried his best to set her up but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for Nikki.

They moved onto duels, Nikki pairing up with Luke since it was her first time.

'Good luck,' one of the campers told her. 'Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years.'

'Maybe he'll go easy on me,' Nikki said hopefully.

The camper snorted.

Luke did thrusts and parries and shield blocks as he attacked her. She was surprisingly good, having experience with knives, and she was able to dodge most of the attacks but she wasn't good enough to avoid being battered and bruised by the time he called for a break.

'Okay, everybody circle up!' Luke ordered. 'If Nikki doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo.'

Nikki stuck her tongue out and stood up from where she had sat down.

The Hermes guys gathered around, suppressing smiles. Nikki figured they had been in her position before and couldn't wait to see somebody else get the treatment. Luke told everybody that he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.

'This is difficult,' he stressed. 'I've had it used against me. No laughing at Nikki. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique.'

He demonstrated the move in slow motion and sure enough, the sword clattered out of her hands. He retrieved her sword and they began to duel, waiting until someone pulled the move off in real time.

Somehow, Nikki was able to keep Luke from getting a shot at the hilt of her sword. He began to push her harder and her sword grew heavy in her hand, losing balance in her hand. She knew that it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took her down, so she figured, What the heck?

She tried the disarming manoeuvre.

_Clang. _Luke's sword clattered to the ground, the tip of her sword only centimetres from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent as Nikki lowered her sword.

For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak but then his face broke into a grin. 'By the gods, Nikki! Show me that again!'

Nikki didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy was complete gone and she was panting but Luke insisted. This time, there was no contest and her sword skidded across the floor.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, 'Beginner's luck?'

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow and was appraising Nikki with an entirely new interest. 'Maybe,' he said. 'But I wonder what Nikki could do with a balanced sword…'

Ω

Friday afternoon, Nikki sat on the pier with Grover, drawing, her feet touching the surface of the water, resting from their experience with the climbing wall. Grover had scampered up like a mountain goat but Nikki had gotten singed a few times.

Nikki asked how Grover's conversation went with Mr D and his face turned a sickly shade of yellow.

'Fine,' he said. 'Just great.'

'So your career's still on track?'

Grover glanced at Nikki nervously. 'Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's licence?'

Nikki shrugged, having no idea what a searcher's licence was, and not looking up from her sketchbook. 'He just said that you had big plans and that you need credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?'

Grover looked down at the naiads. 'Mr D suspended judgement. I neither failed nor succeeded with you yet, so our fates are still connected. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete.'

'Well, that's not so bad.'

'Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest…and even if you did, why would you want _me_ along?'

Nikki looked up from her sketchbook and frowned. 'Why wouldn't I want you along? Who else am I gonna trust my life with?' She grabbed a leaf blowing in the wind and examined it. 'If you weren't my friend, than I would just bring you along and get you killed somewhere along the way.'

Grover blanched at that and looked mournfully at her. Deciding to change the subject, Nikki asked about the four empty cabins.

'Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis,' he said. 'She vowed to be a maiden forever, so of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad.'

'Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end, are those the Big Three?'

Grover tense. 'No. One of them, number two, is Hera's, another honorary thing,' he said. 'She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos.'

'Zeus, Poseidon, Hades.'

'Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got whar.'

'Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades' the Underworld.'

'Uh-huh.'

'But Hades doesn't have a cabin here.'

'No. he doesn't have a throne in Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld.'

'But Zeus and Poseidon – they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?'

Grover shifted uncomfortably. 'About sixty years ago, after WWII, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful, affecting the course of human events too much and causing too much carnage. WWII was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the sons of Hades on the other. Zeus and Poseidon made Hades swear an oath for no more affairs with mortals on the River Styx.'

Thunder boomed.

'And the brothers kept their word – no kids?'

Grover's face darkened. 'Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. A TV starlet with big fluffy eighties hairdo – he couldn't help himself. The River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus got off easy because he was immortal but he brought a terrible fate on Thalia, his daughter.

When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy with Zeus. He let the worst monster out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to her as her keeper but as he tried to escort her and other half-bloods she befriended to camp, they were overwhelmed with monsters. Thalia told the satyr to go and he couldn't change her mind, so she made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity and turned her into that pine tree.

Her spirit helps protects the border of this valley, that's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill.'

Nikki reflected on what Grover had told her as he stared mournfully at Half-Blood Hill. She brought the leaf that she still held to her lips and blew. The tune that came out mixed in with the wind and Grover turned to face Nikki before he closed his eyes and just listened.

_(Oracion from Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai. It's a good song so I used it.)_

Ω

At last, it was time for capture the flag; so of course, there was a lot of excitement than usual.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner, three metres long, glistening grey and a picture of an owl above an olive tree. On the other side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner of identical size but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

'Ares and Athena always lead the teams?' Nikki yelled over the noise at Luke.

'Not always,' he said. 'But often.'

'So, if another cabin captures a flag, what do you do – repaint the flag?'

He grinned. 'You'll see. First we have to get one.'

'Whose side are we on?'

He gave Nikki a sly look, as if he knew something that she didn't, and paired with the scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. 'We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And _you_ are going to help.'

Teams were announced. Athena had allied themselves with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins and Ares had allied themselves with everyone else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble. 'Heroes!' he announced. 'You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line, the entire forest is fair game, all magic items are allowed, the banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming allowed. I serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourself!'

He spread his hands and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal. Nikki's team was blue while Ares was red. Nikki didn't touch it as campers quickly grabbed armour and strapped it on. Luke asked why.

'It'll slow me down. I won't have a lot of protection but I'm better at dodging attacks then confronting them face on,' she explained and Luke agreed with her, having sparred with her when she wasn't wearing armour and knowing that she was better without it.

Annabeth yelled, 'Blue team, forward!' and they marched towards the south while the red team taunted them as they headed to the north.

Nikki caught up with Annabeth. 'So what's the plan?' she asked.

'Just watch Clarisse's spear,' she said, still marching. 'You don't want that thing touching you, otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?'

'Border patrol, whatever than means.'

'It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. leave the rest to me, Athena always has a plan.' And she pushed ahead.

When everyone was stationed, the conch horn blew and whoops and yells could be heard throughout the woods, along with the clanking of metals as kids fought.

I'm missing out on all the fun, Nikki thought to herself when she felt a presence close by and heard a growl of a canine. She instinctively raised her rapier, which, like all the other swords she'd tried before, felt unbalanced in her hand, and the presence retreated.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded, and five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out in the dark.

'Cream the punk!' Clarisse screamed. She brandished a two-metre spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light; her siblings only had the standard-issue bronze swords. They charged at Nikki.

Nikki sidestepped the first kids swing, but they weren't as stupid as the Minotaur or her cousin. They surrounded Nikki and Clarisse thrust her with her spear. Nikki dodged and heard the hum turn into crackling, like lightning, as it got close to her.

Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric.

Another Ares guy slammed her in the chest while she was distracted and she hit the dirt. They would have kicked her more but they were too busy laughing.

'Give her a haircut,' Clarisse said. 'Grab her hair.'

Nikki quickly got to her feet and threw one of her blood marbles onto the ground, in front of the Ares kids, and it exploded into a smoke screen, one of her new tricks. The Ares kids were distracted, trying to find Nikki in the smoke and darkness. Then one by one, they began hitting the ground, different spots of colour appearing all over their bodies.

When the smoke clear, Nikki could be found crouching on top of a boulder, it was big enough to be used as a footstool to the closes tree's first branch, which was conveniently near the creek. She was looking through a scope; in her hands what looked like a sniper's rifle but the difference was that there was a canister strapped behind the trigger.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Nikki Jackson has a paintball gun.

Nikki jumped off the boulder and walked over to the fallen Ares campers as she took her beanie off and put the paintball gun back in, reminiscent of Mary Poppins and her bag. She walked over to Clarisse's spear and picked it up, examining it before she brought it to her knee, snapping it in two and the hum stopped.

'Ah!' Clarisse, the only one still coherent, screamed. 'You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!' Nikki was tempted to thrust the sharp end of the spear into Clarisse's hand but Luke was racing towards the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off Hephaestus kids. The Ares kids got up and Clarisse muttered a dark curse.

'A trick!' she shouted. 'It was a trick.'

They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue team exploded into cheers as the red banner shimmered and turned silver with the boar and spear turning into a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. The blue team hefted Luke onto their shoulders as Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over,

Nikki stared at where she heard Annabeth's presence. 'You set me up.' Nikki stated. 'You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank.'

Annabeth appeared, a Yankees cap in her hand, and narrowed her eyes, wondering how Nikki could have seen her under her invisibility cap. 'I told you. Athena always, always has a plan.' Annabeth looked thoughtful. 'Where'd you get the gun from?' she asked.

Nikki shrugged and gave her a pointed stare before saying, 'You have a magic cap, I have a magic beanie. Leave it at that.'

Suddenly, the canine growl was back, but much closer than before and Nikki was being pushed down as razor-sharp claws digging deep into her skin, nothing stopping it because she wasn't wearing armour.

The campers' cheering died instantly and Chiron shouted out in Ancient Greek: _'Stand ready! My bow!'_

Nikki stared into the lava-red eyes, glowing in the oncoming darkness, of the big hound the size of a rhino dug its claws deeper into her chest but she didn't scream. The hound had the unfortunate luck of pushing her further towards the creek and she was able to get the hound off of her with a big wave before the hound was impaled by a cluster of arrows. The body of the hound melted into the shadows, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

Chiron trotted up next to them along with a few Apollo medics, his face looking grim.

'_Di immortals,'_ Annabeth said. 'That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't…they're not supposed to…'

'Someone summoned it,' Chiron said. 'Someone inside the camp.'

Luke came over, the banner forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Clarisse yelled, 'It's all Nikki's fault! Nikki summoned it!' but no one believed her because the accused was lying on the ground, half dead, having loss a great deal of blood and yet Nikki stayed awake as medics fussed over her.

Suddenly, one of them gasped, drawing everyone's attention. The water from the creek was wandering towards her and slowly, but surely, healing her wounds and Nikki could breath easier but she was still so tired...

'Oh, Styx,' Annabeth cursed. 'This is _not_ good. I didn't want…I assumed it would be Zeus…'

Nikki wasn't paying attention to her, the exhausted mind only having enough energy to focus on one thing at a time, like the holographic green light, spinning and gleaming in the shape of a three-tipped spear: a trident.

'This is _really_ not good,' Annabeth muttered.

'It is determined,' Chiron announced. All around campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, reluctant as they were.

'Poseidon,' said Chiron.'Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Nikita Jackson, Daughter of the Sea God.' And Nikki blacked out.


	9. Chapter 9

After Nikki was out of the infirmary, she was moved to cabin three.

There was plenty of room, she could sit at her own dinner table, pick her own activities, call 'lights our' whenever she felt like it and not listen to anybody else.

It was very similar to her years with her relatives, but instead of having not enough, it was more freedom than she was used to.

Nobody talked about the hellhound out in the open but the attack had scared everyone. It sent two messages, that Nikki was the daughter of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill her, even invade the camp that they had always considered safe.

The isolation, though, was something she was entirely used to.

The other campers steered clear of her as much as possible that her sword lessons became one-on-one with Luke, who pushed her harder than ever, not afraid to bruise her up in the process, something Nikki was secretly thankful for, she never liked being treated as if she was glass. 'You're going to need all the training you can get,' he promised.

Annabeth and all of cabin six glared at her wherever she went, though Annabeth still taught her Greek in the morning but she seemed distracted and there seemed to be an underlining of hatred from her. After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: 'Quest…Poseidon?...Dirty rotten…Got to make a plan…'

Even Clarisse kept her distance but her glare told Nikki that she wanted to her for breaking her electric spear.

Ω

Nikki knew somebody at camp resented her when she came into her cabin and founf a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a _New York Daily News, _opened to the Metro page. The article took about an hour to read as the words floated around the page.

**GIRL AND MOTHER STILL MISSING**

**AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**

BY EILEEN SMYTHE

_Sally Jackson and daughter Nikki are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's car was discovered badly burned last Saturday on the north of Long Island with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred metres before exploding._

_Mother and daughter had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident._

_Ms Jackson's neighbour, Gabe Ugliano, claims that the daughter, Nikki Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past._

_Police would not say whether daughter Nikki is a suspect in her mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out fouls play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Nikki. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stopper hotline._

The phone number was circled in black marker.

Nikki felt the lingering presence of Annabeth and her dislike for the older girl was growing larger by the second.

She threw away the paper and muttered, 'Lights out.'

Ω

That night, Nikki had a strange dream.

It was similar to the one she had the night the Minotaur attacked but in the background there was a city, not New York, the sprawl was different: buildings farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.

The eagle and horse were replaced with two men wearing Greek tunics, trimmed in blue, the other in green. Over the roar, Nikki could hear the blue one yelling at the green one, _Give it back! Give it back!_ like a kindergarten fighting over a toy.

This time, a voice below crooned. 'Come down, little hero. Come down!' and the sand split beneath her, opening up a crevice straight down and the darkness swallowed Nikki and she was falling.

Ω

When Grover stepped into cabin three, she was surprised to see the cabin a mess, knowing that Nikki was always neat with her things, especially with her drawings, which were now all over the floor.

Most of the pictures were chibi versions of people that Nikki had met, including Grover, Luke, Annabeth and Clarisse. Some were really dark and creepy, like the eyes that stared out at you from inside the cupboard under the stairs through the grate, with the doors adorned with multiple locks.

Grover picked up the papers, being careful on to step on them, lest he ruin the paper and have Nikki's wrath delivered on him, and put him back into her book, which, unbeknownst to Grover, it connected back onto the spine as if it had never broken off.

Grover looked at the beds and saw that most of them were undisturbed except for the bed beside the window which was missing its pillow and blankets. Having this happen before, Grover decided to look in high places and found Nikki curled on top of the book case, which didn't fall despite the fact that it didn't have many books in it.

'Nikki…' he said softly so he didn't surprise Nikki and make her have an accident, though he needed have worried because Nikki had known he was there as soon as he walked passed her boundary. '…Mr D wants to see you.'

'Why?'

'He wants to kill…I mean, I'd better let him tell you.'

Nikki hmm'd and rolled off the book shelf, getting a yelp from Grover, and landed on all fours on the floor. She got changed into black tights, denim skirt and red hoodie, not worried about Grover who looked away having lost her shame about her body long ago, and followed Grover to the Big House.

Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil, a hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. Grover seeing her look at the sky told her that it would pass around us. 'It always does.'

Everybody was going on with their normal business but they all looked tense, keeping their eyes on the storm.

Dionysus sat at the pinochle table wearing the same things as when Nikki had met him. Chiron sat across him and they were playing against invisible opponents – two sets of cards hovering in the air. Annabeth was standing further back

'Well, well,' Mr D said without looking up. 'Our little celebrity.'

Nikki waited.

'Come closer,' Mr D said. 'And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father.'

A net of lightning flashed across the clouds.

'Blah, blah, blah.' Mr D said. 'If I had my way, I would cause your molecules to erupt into flames. we'd sweep the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. but Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this accursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm.'

'Spontaneous combustion _is_ a form of harm, Mr D,' Chiron put in.

'Nonsense,' Mr D said. 'Wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father.'

'Mr D –' Chiron warned.

'Oh, all right,' Dionysus relented. 'There's one more option, but it's deadly foolish.' Dionysus rose. 'I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Nikita Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much better choice than what Chiron feels you must do.'

Dionysus turned a playing card into a security card and he was gone.

'Sit, Nikki, please. And Grover.'

They did.

'Tell me, Nikki what you thought of the hellhound?'

Nikki thought about it and shrugged. 'Not much really. Scared at the time but I was more focused on the blood seeping through my clothing.' Chiron and Grover winced.

'Well Nikki,' Chiron started, 'there is a quest you must take, if you accept it.'

Nikki frowned. 'You haven't told me what it is yet.'

Chiron grimaced. 'That's the hard part, the details.' He took a deep breath. 'Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt.'

Nikki stared. 'Plastic tin foil or the ones from the myths?'

'The one from the myths,' answered Grover.

'Oh, okay, carry on.'

'Zeus' master bolt, the symbol of his power and from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against Titans, the bolt that sheered off the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers.'

'And it's missing?'

'Stolen,' Chiron said.

'By whom?'

'By you.' Her mouth fell open.

'At least' – Chiron held up a hand – 'that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best', 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters', et cetera. Afterwards, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly – that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father to convince a human hero to take it.

'Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays; you could have easily snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief.'

'But I've never stolen anything in my life – no, I take that back - but I couldn't steal a lightning bolt from Uncle Sparky, I'm not that good.' Nikki slumped in her chair. 'This family's weird.'

'Zeus wants the bolt back by the summer solstice,' Chiron said. 'Poseidon wants an apology on the same date. If the bolt isn't returned by then, there will be war.'

It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stun silence at the sky.

'So I have to find the bolt,' Nikki sighed. 'and return it by the summer solstice.'

'What better peace offering,' Chiron said, 'than to have the daughter of Poseidon return Zeus' property?'

'If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?'

'I believe I know.' Chiron's expression was grim. 'But before I can tell you more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle.'

'Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?'

'Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge.'

'Ah…good reason.'

'You agree then?'

Nikki shrugged her shoulders. 'Why not? I'm dying in this camp anyway.'

'Then it's time you consulted the Oracle,' Chiron said. 'Go upstairs, Nikki Jackson, to the attic. When you return, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more.'

Ω

The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armour stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars with pickled _things_ – severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read: HYDRA HEAD NO.1, WOODSTOCK, NY, 1969.

By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool was a mummy.

The mummy stood up and opened her mouth and green mist poured out, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. In her mind, Nikki felt something nudge her shields, like a knock and when she let the shields down, she heard a voice: _I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach seeker and ask._

Anyone else would have thought this was extremely creepy and get scared because it was so dark but Nikki had always thrived in the dark so this was nothing. She asked, 'What is my destiny?'

The mist swirled and collected to become Smelly Gabe and his poker buddies. Gabe turned towards her and said in the rasping voice of the Oracle: _You will go west, and face the god who has turned._

His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: _You will find what is stolen, and see it safely returned._

The guy on the left threw two poker chips, than said: _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you friend._

Finally, Eddie, the building super, said: _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.'_

Nikki frowned at the last two lines but she couldn't ask for any more details as the mist retreated, coiling into a big serpent and slithered back into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall, mouth closed tight as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of momentos.

Her audience with the Oracle was over.

Ω

Nikki slumped into a chair. 'She said I would retrieve what was stolen.'

Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. 'That's great!'

'What did she say _exactly_?' Chiron pressed. 'This is important.'

'She said I would go west and face a god who had turned.'

'Well that's obvious, you shall travel west. But who is the God who has turned? That is the question.'

'Where, in the west am I going?' Nikki asked.

'Think about it, if Olympus is in the east, what must be in the west?' Chiron asked.

Nikki thought about it. 'The Underworld?'

'So I have to go to the Underworld? Are you kidding me?'

'That's what the Oracle told to do, so that is what you must do. Next line.'

'You shall find what was stolen, and see them safely returned.'

'Again obvious, you'll find the Lightning Bolt and bring it back, clearing your name as well as your fathers in the process. Yet it says 'them', hmm. Next line.'

'You shall be betrayed by one who calls you friend.' This line troubled Chiron greatly.

'That one isn't as obvious as the last two. Either way, we mustn't dwell on these things. Was there anything else?'

'No.'

Chiron seemed to realise that Nikki was hiding something but didn't push the matter.

'So where do we go?' Nikki asked. 'The Oracle just said to go west.'

'The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west, it moves from age to age, just like Oympus. Right now, of course, it's in Los Angeles.'

'Sky or land?' Nikki had a suspicion that this was important.

'Land,' Grover and Chiron said in unison.

'You are the daughter of the Sea God,' Chiron explained.' Zeus is your father's bitterest rival. You go into Zeus' domain, you won't come down alive.'

Nikki decided not to mention that she had taken a plane to get to New York.

Overhead, lightning crackled and thunder boomed.

'Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one?' Nikki nodded. 'The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help.'

'Gee,' Nikki said, feigning surprise. 'Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?'

The air shimmered behind Chiron and Annabeth appeared. 'I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Seaweed Brain,' she said. 'Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're gonna save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up.'

'If you do say so yourself,' Nikki said. 'I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?'

Her cheeks coloured. 'Do you want my help or not?'

Nikki stretched. 'Sure you can come along,' she drawled. 'Maybe I can kill you and blame it on a monster.' Nikki turned back to Chiron. 'Where do we start?'

'This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhatten. After that, you're on your own.'

Lightning flashed, rain poured down on the meadow that were never supposed to have violent weather.'

'No time to waste,' Chiron said. 'I think you should all get packing.'


	10. Chapter 10

**TheNorwegianAuthor:** Sally adopted her so her name will be Potter-Jackson or Jackson-Potter. I call her Jackson here to Keep her identity a secret.

Nikki didn't pack much except her sketchbook, her mortal knives and a piece of old folded paper that had appeared on one of the beds with a note explaining what it was for. She also packed the money and drachmas that she had stolen from the other campers but had no reason to use.

Chiron had given Annabeth and Nikki each a flask of nectar and an airtight bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies. An overdose would burn them up, literally.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which had been a gift from Athena for Annabeth's twelfth birthday. She carried a book on famous classical architecture to read when she got bored and a long bronze knife.

Grover wore his fake feet, trousers and a green rasta-style hat to hide his horns to pass as human. His orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was his reed pipes which his daddy goat had carved for him.

They met on Half-Blood Hill, beside Thalia's pine tree, where Chiron and Argus, who would be driving them into the city, waited when Luke ran up the hill carrying a pair of converse hi-top shoes. Annabeth blushed, like she usually did whenever Luke was around.

'Just wanted to say good luck,' Luke told her. 'And I thought…um, maybe you could use these.' And he handed Nikki the sneakers.'

'_Maia!_'

The sneakers then sprouted wings and began flapping. A small light of child-like joy entered her eyes and Nikki smiled before repeating the word Luke had said and thanked him. They shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns and gave Annabeth a goodbye hug, who looked like she might pass out.

When Luke was gone, Nikki said, 'You're hyperventilating.'

'Am not.'

Nikki just hummed and walked towards the white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. She stared longingly. 'I won't be able to use these, will I?' Chiron shook his head and Nikki gave it to Grover instead.

'What am I thinking?' Chiron cried. 'I can't let you get away without this.' He handed her a pen, the same pen she had used to kill Mrs Dodds. She took off the cap and the pen grew longer and heavier in her hand into a bronze sword with double-edge blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt with gold studs but the change didn't stop there.

The double-edge blade became thinner so that where there was once a wide blade was now the blade of a rapier, built for speed. It was the only sword so far that had felt right in her hands.

'It's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, waiting for the one it belonged to. From the way it reacted to you, I'd say you're the one. It's a sword with a long and tragic history. Its name is Anaklusmos.' Chiron explained.

_Riptide_, she mentally translated.

'Use it only for emergencies,' Chiron said, 'and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case.'

'What do you mean?'

The sword is celestial bronze, forged by Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. Its deadly to monsters but will pass through mortals like an illusion, they're simply not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable.'

'Good to know.' She capped the sword and put it in her pocket and got into the SUV.

Chiron sent them off with your typical summer-camp send off, his bow high in salute.

Ω

The ride was spent in silence

'So far so good,' Nikki said. 'Ten miles and not a single monster.'

Annabeth gave Nikki an irritated look. 'It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain.'

'Remind me again – why do you hate me so much?'

'I don't hate you.'

'Could've fooled me.'

She folded her cap of invisibility. 'Look…were just not supposed to get along, okay? 'Our parents are rivals.'

Nikki stared at her as if she was stupid. 'That's…just…really…_childish._'

Annabeth looked outraged. 'What!' she screamed. 'Like you're one to talk! You don't like me either.'

'Yes, I do not like you,' Nikki said plainly. 'At first, I didn't like you because Hedwig didn't like you. That may seem a little childish too, but I trust Hedwig with my life and she has _never_ led me wrong. Then you set up a ten year old newcomer to be bait for a bunch of bullies who have experiencing in pulverising kids for a living. You couldn't have known that I'd be able to defeat those Ares kids. You put an unskilled and unexperienced kid to be bait, without their permission. That doesn't say much about your character. Had I'd been anyone else; Clarisse probably would have permanently injured me.

'And then when I was claimed, you ignored me and then had the arrogance to volunteer for _my_ quest as if it was your right. Now you are telling me that you don't like me because my father happens to be Poseidon and your mother happens to be Athena, which shows me that you are someone who blames a child for their parent's deeds.

'So, yes, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, I don't like you but at least my reasons are legitimate and not something as petty as a rivalry between our parents.'

The silence was now stunned and Annabeth actually looked embarrassed.

Ω

They were in Manhattan by sunset.

Argus had left when he was sure that they had gotten their bus tickets but it began raining and they got restless waiting for the bus so decided to pass the time playing Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples.

The game ended when Nikki tossed the apple towards Grover, only for him to swallow our Hacky Sack – core, stem and all. Grover and Annabeth cracked up but Nikki just smiled.

Grover was tense as they boarded to bus, looking and sniffing around.

'What is it?'

'I don't know,' he said. 'Maybe it's nothing.'

When they finally sat down, Nikki began to hear a familiar tune and asked the question that she had never bothered to ask. 'What happens to monsters when you kill them?'

'Monsters don't die,' Grover said. 'They have no souls. You can dispel them for a while, maybe for a whole lifetime if you're lucky but they'd eventually re-form.'

As the last passengers got on, she commented, 'I'm obviously not lucky.'

Three ladies were boarding, each with a hat a different colour – orange, green and purple – all wearing crumpled velvet dresses, paisley handbags, lace gloves and had gnarled hands. Triplet demon grandmothers. One of them –the one in the orange hat – was Mrs Dodds.

'All three of them,' Grover whimpered. '_Di immortals!_'

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. Two of them made crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. it was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

Nikki didn't delay and threw one of her blood marbles at the window, distracting everyone else on the bus and allowing the rain to come inside. Nikki waved her arm, making a whip of water that flew towards one of the furies, turning into a large icicle and impaling the Fury, making her burst into golden dust.

Annabeth had somehow snuck to the front of the bus and jerked the wheel. The bus toppled as it entered the Lincoln Tunnel. Then Annabeth went to help Grover as he fought the last remaining Fury while Nikki fought Alecto, formally Mrs Dodds

'Where is it, Nikita Jackson? Where is it?'

'Where is _what_?' Nikki snapped, ducking to the side as the fire whip cracked right where she had just been.

'Don't play dumb,' Alecto hissed.

Nikki rolled her eyes and using the rain water that was coming into bus to create her own water whip. With a crack, she was able to knock the fire whip out of Alecto's hand and with another crack, she diagonally cut across the Fury and she followed her sister in a shower of golden dust but not before saying, 'Zeus will destroy you! Hades will have your soul!'

'Zur Hölle fahren,' she yelled. It meant 'go to hell' in German.

She looked over to Annabeth and Grover and saw that they were starting to tire. She stomped her foot and the ground began to shake, drawing the Fury's attention to her. Annabeth took the chance to throw her dagger, bursting the Fury into dust.

Thunder shook the bus and the hairs on the back of Nikki's neck stood on end.

'Get out!' Annabeth yelled. 'Now!'

They rushed outside where other passengers wandered around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, 'We're going to die!' A Hawaiian-shirted tourist snapped a photo of them.

'Our bags!' Grover realized. 'We left our –'

_BOOOOOM!_

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof and Nikki had to cover her ears as the hum got louder. Before the police arrived, they plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them and nothing but darkness ahead.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**: German words will randomly appear, just cause I can

Ω

'This Greek gods thing? Awesome.'

'And why's that?' Annabeth said tiredly.

'Because when your life gets shitty, you know who to blame,' Nikki responded cheerfully. 'Everyone else sees bad luck, us half-bloods know better. Someone up there _really_ hates you and is trying to make you miserable.'

Two heavy sighs were her only response.

Annabeth, Grover and Nikki walked through the woods on the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them and the smell of the Hudson reeking.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes slitted and full of terror. 'Three Kindly One. All three at once.'

Annabeth just kept pulling them along, saying: 'Come on! The further away we get, the better.'

'All our stuff was back there,' Nikki reminded her. 'Everything.'

'Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to attack them – '

'Like it would matter if I attack them first or they did,' Nikki interrupted. 'The Kindly Ones were there for us and they would have attack anyway.'

'That was still reckless!'

Grover brayed mournfully. 'Tin cans…a perfectly good bag of tin cans.'

Annabeth sighed. 'Look, if you died…aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world.'

The glow of the city disappeared behind us and left us in total darkness.

'You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?' Nikki asked her.

'No…only short field trips. My dad –'

'The history professor.'

'Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood _is_ my home.' She was rushing her words out now, as if she was afraid somebody might try to stop her. 'At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not.' There was a little bit of doubt in her voice.

Nikki hmm'd. 'And you never thought to go out without Chiron or Mr D's permission?'

'Well, a lot of things could go wrong. You could get hurt and nobody would know or…you could die.' She said the last line meekly.

'You only live once,' Nikki commented, 'but if you do it right, once is enough.' Annabeth just looked at her funny.

'Back on the bus,' Annabeth started, 'you turned the water into ice. How'd you do that?'

'I had a lot of time on my hands,' Nikki shrugged. 'When I found out I was a child of the Sea God, I began experimenting with water. I can now create waves and mould the water into shapes but I seem to have a talent with freezing the water. They can kill monsters, as demonstrated before but they need a lot of water and can break easily with a good hit.'

Annabeth had a thoughtful look on her face, the gears in her head turning. Before she could ask any more questions, she was interrupted by a shrill _toot-toot-toot, _like the sound of an owl being tortured.

'Hey, my reed pipes still work! Grover cried. 'If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!' he puffed out a few notes, but it suspiciously sounded like Hilary Duff's 'S Yesterday.'

Nikki shook her head and grabbed a leaf from a nearby tree and begun to play her _Oracion_ to cover up Grover's reed pipes.

'What is that song?' Annabeth asked. 'I've heard you play it before.'

Nikki shrugged. 'Just something I heard,' she said vaguely.

For a mile, they wandered through the darkness until light could be seen ahead: the colours of a neon sign. They kept on walking until they reached a two-lane road that looked abandoned. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard advertising a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon lights.

It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. Flanking the entrance were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

The neon sign was above the gate and was murder on the two demigods eyes because if there is anything worse for dyslexia to read than regular english, it was red cursive neon english.

It looked like: _ATNY MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROIUM_.

'What the heck does that say?' Nikki asked.

'I don't know,' Annabeth said.

Grover translated: 'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium.'

Nikki jerked, remembering the exact words on the piece of paper that she had found on her bed. She fished it out of her pocket and examined it.

'What is it?' Grover asked, looking over her shoulder.

'Don't know,' Nikki shrugged. 'Found it in my cabin when we were packing but I think it's a map.' She put it back into her pocket and crossed the street to the Emporium. When she walked through the door, she caught the whiff of the smell of hamburgers and so did Grover and Annabeth if their sniffing was anything to go by. Nikki only realized now that they hadn't eaten anything since lunch, having gotten use to eating so little.

The front garden was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.

'Bla-ha-ha!' he bleated. 'That looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!'

Annabeth and Nikki looked for food but Nikki was on high alert. When she got further back, she was right to be. There were statues in the back as well but what were unsettling about them were their faces: looks of shock and pure terror.

Out of the aisle came a woman wearing a black veil. Nikki could hear hissing, just like the snakes she used to talk to in her Aunt's garden, but they were jumbled up and too soft so she couldn't understand them and it didn't help that they were hissing in Ancient Greek.

'What pretty eyes you have Child. Where are you parents?' she asked.

'My friends and I are orphans.'

'Orphans?' the women said. The word sound alien from her mouth. 'But, dear! Surely not!'

'We got separated from our caravan,' Nikki continued spinning her tale as she casually put her hand in her pocket where Riptide was. 'Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost.'

'Oh my, you must be hungry. Call your friends and have some food.'

'Hey Nikki, have you found any food?'

The act was ruined by Annabeth's untimely arrival. The women got angry and the hissing got definitely louder. Nikki was able to make out 'daughter of Athena' amongst the hissing.

The women removed her veil and they quickly closed their eyes and tried to manoeuvre through the aisles of statues.

Aunty Em.

Aunty 'M'.

Medusa.

'The Grey-Eyed One did this to me, Nikki,' Medusa said, her voice sounding like a poor old grandmother. 'That girl's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this.'

'Run, Nikki!' came Annabeth's voice.

'Silence!' Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated into a comforting purr. 'You see why I must destroy the girl, Nikki. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue into dust. But you, dear Nikki, you need not suffer.'

'**_Fuck off._**' Nikki hissed back, using the momentary surprise she inflicted onto Medusa to open her eyes and run.

'A speaker...' Medusa purred. 'Do you really want to help the gods? Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Nikki? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain.'

'Nikki, duck!' Behind her was a buzzing noise, like a ninety kilogram hummingbird in a nosedive. Nikki turned and there was Grover in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone.

'You have to cut her head off.' Annabeth appeared, clutching her Yankees hat.

'What? Why?'

'Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself but…' she swallowed, as if she was about to make a difficult admission. 'But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her; she'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You – you've got a chance.'

Nikki was grabbing Riptide out of her pocket when Grover was knocked into a grizzly bear statue beside them and Nikki had to close her eyes as Medusa dived at her. Her back hit something hard, probably a statue that somehow stayed standing despite all the power that Medusa had pushed into it

'Such a pity to destroy such a pretty face.' Medusa hissed. 'Now open your eyes and stay with Aunty Em forever.'

'Sterben,' Nikki sneered, pulled the cap off of Riptide and it extended into its sword form, impaling medusa straight through the middle. Medusa screeched and fell to the ground. Nikki brought Riptide down, slicing off Medusa's head. The rest of her body dissipated into dust, leaving her head behind and a golden bracelet, which Nikki grabbed.

Annabeth came up, eyes fixed on the sky and draped Medusa's veil over her head then picked it up, wrapping it with a plastic bag. 'Are you okay?' she asked Nikki.

'Yeah,' Nikki took a deep breath. 'Why didn't …why didn't the head evaporate?'

'Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war,' she said. 'Same as your Minotaur horn, but don't unwrap the head, it can still petrify you.'

Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue with a big welt on his forehead. His cap hung from one of his little goat horns, his fake feet knocked off his hooves and the magic sneakers flying aimlessly around his head.

'The Red Baron,' Nikki said. 'Good job, man.'

Grover managed a bashful grin. 'That was _not_ fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? _Not_ fun.' He looked at the head in Annabeth's hands. 'What do we do with that?'

Nikki gave the bag a thoughtful look and walked into the back of the warehouse.

'Nikki,' Annabeth called after her. 'What are you –'

Nikki found Medusa'a account book, which showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. She folded up the bill and stuffed it in her pocket.

In the cash register were twenty dollars, a few drachmas and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a leather bag attached. She rummaged through the office until she found the right size box.

She returned back to Grover and Annabeth and packed Medusa's head and, while humming some unknown tune, filled out a delivery slip:

_The Gods_

_Mount Olympus_

_600__th__ Floor, Empire State Building_

_New York, NY_

_With best wishes,_

_Nikki Jackson_

'They're not going to like that,' Grover warned. 'They'll think you're impertinent.'

Nikki gave him a funny look and he realized what he had just said and sighed. 'You are impertinent.'

She poured some golden drachmas into the pouch and there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated into the air and disappeared with a _pop!_ Nikki looked over at Annabeth, expecting her to criticize but she seemed resigned. 'Come on,' she muttered. 'We need a new plan.'


	12. Chapter 12

They camped out in the woods, a hundred metres from the main road, in a marshy clearing where local kids had obviously been using for parties as the ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

Food and blankets were taken from Aunty Em but they didn't dare light a fire. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day, no need for anything else. They decided to sleep in shifts - Nikki had first watch.

Annabeth was curled up on the blankets, snoring, while Grover was on the lowest bough of the tree, back against the trunk and stared at the sky. 'It makes me sad, Nikki.'

'What does?'

'_This_.' He pointed to the ground. 'And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. What a terrible time to be a satyr.'

'Tell me about the search,' Nikki asked curiously and Grover seemed to loosen up a bit.

'The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago,' he told her. 'A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice drying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe he died. In every generation, the bravest satyr pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden and wake him from his sleep.'

'And you want to be a searcher.'

'It's my life dream,' he said. 'My father was a searcher and my Uncle Ferdinand…'

'The statue? Sorry.'

Grover shook his head. 'Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks, so did my dad. But I'll succeed, I'll be the first searcher to return alive.'

'Hand on – the _first_?'

Grover looked at his reed pipes. 'No searcher had ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again.'

'Not once in two thousand years?'

'No.'

'You really think you'll be the one to find Pan?'

'I have to believe that, Nikki. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can be awakened.'

Grover was chasing a dream that seemed so hopeless. Nikki thought about her quest to the Underworld and pulled out the bracelet she had taken from Medusa and removed the blue pearl that adorned it.

'What's that?' Grover asked.

'It's supposed to let us escape the Underworld when we crush them.' Nikki explained. 'At least, that's what the note said.' She pulled the map out of her pocket. 'Another one is at…the Gateway Arch. So we have a way out but what chance do we have against a god?'

'I don't know,' Grover admitted. 'But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office, Annabeth was telling me –'

'Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out.'

Don't be so hard on her, Nikki. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me…' His voice faltered.

'She was one of your charges five years ago…wasn't she?' She asked gently.

'I can't talk about it,' Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if pressed. She shrugged and changed the topic.

'Doesn't matter if she's a good person.' Nikki said. 'She has yet to apologize for her past deeds. If she won't lower her pride to deliver an 'I'm sorry' to a daughter of Poseidon, then I'll keep bringing her down.'

Grover sighed. 'Anyway, as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't as it seems.'

'So you notice to?'

Grover looked surprised. 'You knew?'

'Yeah,' said Nikki. 'Mrs Dodds, back on the bus, kept screaming 'Where is it?' It sounded like they were looking for something but if Hades has the bolt, than what are they looking for?'

'And you didn't tell us this, why?'

'We're short on time and we have to go west, we'll figure it out on the way.'

'How does that work?!' Grover exclaimed.

'Grover, Grover, Grover…' Nikki sighed, shaking her head side to side slowly. 'Sometimes it's not the destination but the journey.'

Ω

Grover had taken first watch instead, so that night, Nikki had another weird dream.

Grey mist creatures, Nikki somehow identified as spirits of the dead, churned around her. They tugged on her clothes, trying to stop her from walking towards the chasm she felt compelled to walk to the very edge of.

The pit yawned so wide and was completely black, definitely bottomless. Nikki got the feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.

_The little hero_, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. _Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do._ The voice felt ancient – cold and heavy. It wrapped around her like sheets of lead.

_They have misled you, child,_ it said. _Barter with me. I will give you what you want._

A shimmering image hovered over the void: her mom, frozen in the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold, her face distorted in pain, as if the Minotaur was still squeezing her neck, her eyes looking directly at Nikki.

Cold laughter echoes from the chasm and an invisible force pulled her forward.

_Help me rise, girl_. The voice became hungrier_. Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!_

The image of her mom faded and the thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around her. She realized that it wasn't trying to pull her in, but trying to pull itself _out_.

_Good,_ it murmured. _Good_.

_No! Wake!_ Said a voice and Nikki turned around, catching the glimpse of red hair and eyes so much like her and so familiar.

Ω

She grabbed someone's arm and tossed them.

Annabeth landed with an _oof_ and Nikki blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes and finally remembered where she was. 'Sorry, Annabeth.' Her reply was a curse.

'What was that for?!'

'I was having a bad dream.' Nikki said and Grover winced.

'Yeah…' he said slowly, '…you don't want to wake up Nikki when she has a nightmare. She got her own room at Yancy because she hurt her roommate when they tried to wake her up from a nightmare.' Annabeth gave him an expression that said 'unbelievable'

In Grover's lap was a poodle. Its name was Gladiola.

'He's our ticket west,' Grover said. 'A rich local family posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola doesn't want to go back but he is willing to help.'

'So we turn in Gladiola,' Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, 'we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple.'

'Not another bus,' Nikki said warily.

'No,' Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, towards train tracks that couldn't have been seen last night in the dark. 'There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon.'


	13. Chapter 13

Two days were spent on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. They weren't attacked once and that seemed to ring alarms in Nikki's head.

They had to keep a low profile because Nikki had become infamous and was splattered over front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The _Trenton Register-News_ showed her picture taken by a tourist as she got off the bus. The picture's captions read:

_Twelve year old Nikki Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of her mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where she accosted several female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be travelling with two teenage accomplices. His neighbour, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture._

'Don't worry,' Annabeth told her. 'Mortal police could never find us.' But she didn't sound so sure.

Most of the day was spent pacing the length of the train (damn ADHD) or looking out the window.

Once, Nikki spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunter for lunch. Another time, towards evening, something huge was moving through the woods. It looked like a lion but it was the size of a tank. Its fur glinted gold in the light and then it leaped through the trees and was gone.

Ω

Nikki told them about her dream.

'That doesn't sound like Hades.' Annabeth said after a long silence. 'He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs.'

'He offered her mother in trade,' Grover put in. 'Who else could do that?'

'I guess…if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians, but why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?' she looked at Nikki carefully. 'Nikki, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless and greedy.'

'What would you do if it was your dad? Grover winced.

'My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Nikki,' she said. 'He never wanted a baby. When I was delivered by the by Zephyr the West Wind, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parents.

'He always talked about my arrival as if it was the most inconvenient thing that has ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' wife and had two 'regular' mortal kids and tried to pretend I didn't exist. My stepmom treated me like a freak, wouldn't let her kids play with me. When monsters attacked, they would look at me resentfully. I wasn't wanted so I ran away.

Athena watched over and guarded me and I made a couple of friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway.'

Nikki would have given an arm and a leg to know _anything_ about her parents at the age Annabeth came to camp.

Ω

Eight days before the summer solstice, they passed over the Mississippi River into St Louis.

Annabeth wanted to see the Gateway Arch and Nikki didn't stop her; there was another pearl to find here.

The Arch was a mile from the train station and late in the day, the lines weren't that long. Annabeth listed off interesting facts about how the Arch was built as they waited for a ride to the top. Nikki had a bad feeling but Grover wouldn't be able to help underground since underground air, apparently, always smelled like monsters.

They rode up in the elevator with a big fat lady, who had beady eyes, pointy, coffee-stained teeth, a denim hat and dress, and her dog, a Chihuahua whit a rhinestone collar. No one said a thing about the dog.

The observation deck was like a tin can with carpeting, rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other with a nice view. Annabeth kept talking about structural supporter, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She would've stayed up there forever but the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closed in a few hours.

Annabeth and Grover piled into the elevator but there was no room for her.

The park ranger said, 'Next car.'

'We'll get out,' Annabeth said. 'We'll wait with you.'

'Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom.' There was still the second pearl to find.

Nikki looked around, making sure to not look suspicious (which was easy, no one suspects a 10 year old) to the little boy with his parents, the park ranger, the Chihuahua and the fat lady flicking her forked tongue between her teeth.

Wait a minute.

Forked tongue?

The Chihuahua yapped at Nikki. 'Now, now, sonny,' the lady said. 'Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here.' The Chihuahua barred its teeth, foam dripping from his black lips and the fat lady sighed. 'If you insist.'

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing skin that was scaly and green. When she smiled, she flashed fangs instead of teeth and her eyes were slit sideways, like a reptile's. The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First the size of a Doberman, then to a lion and the bark became a roar.

It was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail - which hissed in Ancient Greek like Medusa's snakes – a three-metre-long diamond back growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA – RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS – IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS – EXT. 954.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might have been laughter. 'Be honoured, Nikki Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood, for I am the Mother of Monster, the terrible Echidna!'

All Nikki could think to say was: 'Isn't that a kind of anteater?'

She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and greed with rage. 'I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Nikki Jackson, my son shall destroy you!

The Chimera charged and Nikki dodged, ending up next to the family and park ranger who were now screaming and trying to pry the emergency exit doors open. Nikki uncapped her sword and the Chimera charged her again and opened its mouth before she could swing Riptide and shot a column of flame straight at her.

Nikki dodged and where she had been a moment ago was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.

The Chimera had just blowtorched a national monument.

Nikki slashed at its neck but the blade sparked harmlessly off its dog collar. She was so worried about defending against the mouth that she forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around and sank its teeth into her calf, making her leg feel like it was on fire. The serpent tail wrapped around her ankle and pulled her off balance. Her blade flew out of her hand, spinning out the hole in the Arch and down towards the Mississippi River.

'**_Shit!_**' she hissed, knowing she had lost it, probably forever.

She backed into the hole in the wall as the Chimera advanced. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. 'They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?'

The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish Nikki off now that she was defenceless.

There was no other place to go, except far, far down into the river.

'If you are a daughter of Poseidon,' Echidna hissed, 'you would not fear water. Jump, Nikki Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline.'

Nikki gave her a funny look.

'You have no faith,' Echidna told her. You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart. Die, faithless one.'

'You know,' Nikki began, 'you're telling me to jump off a national monument that hangs in the sky. That takes a lot to process. No one sane would actually do it.' She looked thoughtful. 'Then again, I haven't been sane in a long time.'

Nikki turned and jumped, plummeting towards the river.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N**: Someone asked if I could make this a FemHarry/Nico pairing. I've already got her paired with an OC in the Harry Potter universe but it's given me idea for a FemHarry/Nico story.

Ω

Nikki was surprisingly calm on the way down.

She was always expecting her death when she was with her relatives and when she came into the care of Sally; she decided to live her fullest, knowing that she would die at the end anyway. Death was a constant in her life, facing it didn't exactly scare her.

Then she hit the water.

With a whiteout of bubbles, she sank through the murk. The impact hadn't hurt, she couldn't feel the Chimera poison anymore and she was breathing under water – perks of being a child of Poseidon. She wasn't even wet. Deciding to experiment, she grabbed a lighted and flicked it, a tiny flame, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi. She grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper and lit it on fire and when she let go, it became soggy again.

_Cool!_

Nikki stood up from the mud and stepped on something round. Looking down she found it was a pearl. Picking it up, she found that it was actually the pearl she had been trying to find. She put it in her pocket and felt something else in there. She pulled it out.

It was Riptide.

Looks like Chiron forgot to mention that Riptide would always return to her.

She swam back to the surface.

Ω

Nikki came ashore next to a floating McDonalds.

A block away, emergency vehicles were surrounding the Arch and police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers was like Times Square on New Year's Eve.

A news lady was talking for the camera: 'Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch.'

'…an adolescent girl,' another reporter was saying. 'Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent girl going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting of this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities.'

Nikki pushed through the crowd, keeping her head down, trying to find Annabeth and Grover when they found her. Grover's familiar voice bleated, 'Niii-ki!' and she got tackled in a bear hug – or goat hug. He said, 'We thought you went to Hades the hard way!'

Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry but even she seemed relieved. 'We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?'

'I sort of fell.'

'Nikki! Two hundred metres?'

Behind them, the paramedics broke through the crowd, rolling a the mother of the little boy on a stretcher. She was saying, 'And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua –'

'Okay, ma'am,' the paramedic said. 'Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in.'

'I'm not crazy! This girl jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared.' Then she saw Nikki. 'There she is! That's the girl!'

Nikki quickly turned, pulling Annabeth and Grover along as she disappeared into the crowd.

'What's going on?' Annabeth demanded. 'Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?'

Nikki told them about what happened on top of the Arch. They passed another news reporter that said, 'Nikki Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the girl who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young girl wanted by the authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. _And_ the girl is believed to be travelling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Nikki Jackson.'

They ducked out of sight

'First things first, we've got to get out of town!' Nikki told them. No objections were made as they got onto the train just as it was about to pull out of Denver.


	15. Chapter 15

Seven days before the solstice, they rolled into Denver. They hadn't eaten since Kansas and hadn't showered since Camp Half-Blood.

Annabeth wanted to contact Chiron but they couldn't use phones, it's like having a neon sign hanging over your head proclaiming you're a demigod for all monster to see. Annabeth took them to a do-it-yourself car wash, to the stall furthest from the street, and keeping an eye out for patrol cars. Three adolescents in a car wash with no car would send alarms in any cops head.

'What are we doing?' Nikki asked.

'I-M'ing' Grover said.

'Instant messaging?'

'Iris-messaging,' Annabeth corrected. 'The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods.'

Grover grabbed a spray gun and after collecting the right amount of money, made a rainbow.

Annabeth raised a drachma over her head. 'O goddess, accept our offering.' She threw the drachma and it disappeared in a golden shimmer. 'Half-Blood Hill.'

The image in the rainbow was of strawberry fields, and Long Island Sound in the distance. They were probably on the porch of the Big House where a sandy-haired guy in shorts and orange tank top had his back to them. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadows.

'Luke,' Nikki realized.

He turned, eyes wide. 'Nikki!' his scarred face broke into a grin. 'Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?'

'We're…uh…fine,' Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. 'We thought – Chiron – I mean –'

'He's down at the cabins.' Luke's smile faded. 'We're having issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? is Grover all right?'

'I'm right here,' Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. 'We're fine, other than the fact that Nikki is wanted by the authorities.'

A big Lincoln Continental pulled into the carwash, stereo turned on maximum.

'What's that noise?' Luke yelled.

'I'll take care of it! Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. 'Grover, come on!'

'What?'Grover said. 'But –'

'Give Nikki the nozzle and come on!' she ordered.

Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle of Delphi, then he handed Nikki the spray gun, who adjusted the hose to keep it going and still see Luke, and followed Annabeth.

Once they were gone, Nikki said to Luke, 'You've turned our strategist into blubbering mess.'

Luke laughed and looked sheepish. 'Yeah…it's just a childhood crush. She'll get over it eventually.' He sighed. The music cranked down a bit. 'What did Grover mean by you being 'wanted'.' he raised an eyebrow.

'The mist doesn't like me. I'm a terrorist now.' She told him what had happen so far and realized there was only a minute left before the water shut off.

'I wish I could be there,' Luke told her. 'We can't help from here, I'm afraid, but listen…it had to be hades. He was there for the winter solstice and he has the Helm of Darkness. You'd have to be invisible to sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt.'

Luke realized what he had said. 'Oh, hey,' he protested. 'I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never…I mean, she's like a little sister to me.'

'She's not going to like that description.'

The music stopped completely. There was a scream and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.

'You'd better go see what that was,' Luke said. 'Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'd feel better if you were.'

'Yep,' Nikki lied. 'Too bad they didn't help when I was plummeting into the Mississippi River.'

Luke laughed. The mist started to fade. 'Tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just –' and the mist was gone, just as Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing.

Ω

A few minutes later, they were sitting in a booth in a diner.

A waitress came over to them and asked them if they had any money. Nikki was about to think up a story to tell the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building: a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled into the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He dressed in a red muscle shirt, black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades and he had a cruel, brutal face with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked them again, 'You kids have any money?'

The biker said, 'It's on me.' he slid into the booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window. He looked up at the waitress, who was gapping at him, and said, 'Are you still here?' He pointed at her and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back towards the kitchen.

The biker looked at Nikki and bad feelings started to boil in her stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness.

He gave Nikki a wicked grin. 'So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?'

Nikki put her head on the table, face down. 'So what?'

Annabeth's eyes flashed in warning. 'Nikki, this is –'

'Clarisse's dad, Ares.' Nikki interrupted, looking up a bit. Her eyes were now glowing, the colour of the curse that had left her an orphan. 'Yeah, I know.'

Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. 'That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear.'

Nikki shrugged. 'She's a bully. I hate bullies.'

'That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for – I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you.'

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food – cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings and chocolate milkshakes. Ares handed her a dew gold drachmas and when she stayed behind, Ares threatened her with his knife.

'What's the proposition?' Nikki asked as she ate her fries.

'I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little…date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted and I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me.'

'We've already got a quest,' Nikki said after a moment. 'I'm not gonna stop for something so small.'

Ares' fiery eyes made Nikki see things – blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. 'I know all about your quest, punk. When that _item_ was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…' He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. 'Well…if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. I'm trying to give you a chance to prove yourself, Nikki Jackson.

In a way, I'm the reason that you have this little quest, after all, I'm the one who told you father about my suspicions about old Corpse Breath.'

'You told him Hades stole the bolt?'

'Sure, framing somebody to start a war, oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately.' Ares shrugged. 'I'm a generous guy, you do my little job and I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friend. I'll even tell you something about your mother.' Nikki perked up.

'My mom?'

Ares grinned. 'That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy, you can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride.' Nikki blinked and Ares was gone, along with his motorcycle.

'Not good,' Grover said. 'Ares sought you out, Nikki. This is not good.'

Nikki looked thoughtful. Did Ares really know something about her mom, or was he just playing with her?

'We can't just ignore him?' Nikki asked.

'We can't,' Annabeth said. 'Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want bad fortune.'

Nikki leaned back and crossed her arms. 'Why does he need us?'

'Maybe it's a problem that requires brains,' Annabeth guessed. 'Ares has strength, that's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes.'

Ω

The sun was sinking behind the mountains when they found the park. The sign once had said WATERLAND but now it just said WAT R A D.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides with tubes and pipes curling everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the tarmac. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

'If Ares bring his girlfriend here for a date,' Nikki said, staring up at the barbed wire, 'I'd hate to see what she looks like.'

'Nikki,' Annabeth warned. 'Be more respectful.'

'I thought you hated Ares.'

'He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental.'

'You don't want to insult her looks,' Grover added.

'Who is she?'

'Aphrodite,' Grover said, a little dreamily. 'Goddess of love.'

'Anyway,' Annabeth interrupted. 'how do we get in?'

_'Maia!_' Grover's shoes sprouted wings.

He flew over the fence, did an unintentional somersault in mid-air, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. Nikki sighed and locked-pick the padlock on the gate and walked through the old-fashioned way.

'Spoil-sport,' Grover muttered.

The shadows grew long as they walked through the park, checking out attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit? No monsters came to get them, nothing made the slightest noise. They found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards and racks of –

'Clothes,' said Annabeth. 'Fresh clothes.'

She snatched an entire rack of stuff off the racks and disappeared into the changing rooms, Grover and Nikki followed along and was soon decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.

They finally found the Tunnel of Love: an empty pool and around the rim were a thousand bronze cupids, wings apart and bows ready to fire. On the other side from them was an opened tunnel where the water probably went into when the pool had been full the sign above read: THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE.

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares' shield, a polished circle of bronze.

'Does anyone smell trap?' Nikki asked. 'Grover, you stay up here and keep watch. Annabeth, let's go.'

When Nikki got to the shield, she noticed that the rim of the pool was covered in mirrors. You could see yourself no matter what direction you turned. Nikki now understood why Ares and Aphrodite would come here: while they were smooching with each other they could look at their favourite people; themselves.

As soon as Nikki touched the shield, she tripped and tripwire.

'Trap.' Nikki sighed.

The Cupid statues drew their bows and before they could take cover, they fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

Grover tried to hold open a section of the net for them but it wasn't easy going up the slope as it was down and everywhere Grover touched, the golden threads wrapped around his hands.

The Cupid's heads popped open and out came video cameras. Spotlight rose up all around the pool, blinding them with illumination and a loudspeaker voice boomed: 'Live to Olympus in one minute…fifty nine seconds, fifty eight…'

They'd almost made it to the top when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic things poured out and Annabeth screamed, 'Spiders!'

The countdown continued as Nikki dragged the screaming Annabeth back to the boat. The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie them down. It was easy enough to brask them at first but there was so many and Annabeth wasn't being any help.

Nikki looked at the water pipes and suddenly had an idea.

'Grover!' she yelled. 'Get to the control booth! Turn this ride 'on'!'

'But –'

'Do it!'

Grover got to the control booth and slammed away on the buttons. He looked at her and raised his hands, letting her know that every button had been pressed but still nothing was happening.

Nikki closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of water. As the countdown reached zero, the pipes exploded. The water swept away the spiders, as well as short circuiting them, and moved the boat.

After strapping Annabeth in, Nikki concentrated on controlling the boat as it rose with the water, making sure to keep them away from the walls so they didn't break into a million pieces. When they were high enough that they could've been shredded by the metal net, the boat's dived into the tunnel and they rocketed through darkness.

The went pass pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff as the boat shot curls, hugged corners and took forty five degree plunges before they exited the tunnel, the night air whistling through their hair as they barrelled straight towards the exit.

If the ride had been in working order, they would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But the problem was, the Gates of Love were chained. Two other boats were piled against the barricade – one submerged, the other cracked in half.

'We're gonna have to jump,' Nikki yelled to Annabeth.

'Are you crazy?'

'Unless you want to get smashed to death instead!'

The idea was simple, if insane. As the boat struck, it would act as a springboard and propel them over the gate. Annabeth saw the she was right and gripped her hand.

'When I say go!' Annabeth said. 'Now!'

_Crack!_

It was good that Annabeth had been the one to tell them to jump because it got us over the gate rather than smashing into the gate like their boat. However their problems didn't end there. They had gotten too much of a lift so they flew through the air, over the gate, over the pool and down towards solid tarmac.

Grover came to the rescue though, grabbing Nikki by the shirt and Annabeth by the arm as he tried to stop their crash landing. But Annabeth and Nikki were too heavy so they managed to smash into a photo-board, banged up but alive, Ares' shield on Nikki's arm.

Annabeth and Nikki thanked Grover for saving them but a hundred metres away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming, aimed straight at them.

Nikki clapped her hands. 'Bravo, bravo, bravissimo, Haphaestus.' She did a bow. 'Show's over folks!'

Nikki spun around, walking out of the park as the Cupids returned to their original positions, lights turned off and the park went quiet and dark again.


	16. Chapter 16

'You didn't get yourself killed.'

Ares was waiting for them in the diner parking lot.

Nikki's eyebrow twitched. She grabbed his shield and threw it to him like a frisbee, hoping to get him in the head, only for him to grab it and spun it like a pizza dough and it changed form into a bulletproof vest, which he slung across his back.

'See that truck over there?' he pointed to an eighteen wheeler parked across the street from the diner. 'That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas.'

The eighteen wheeler had a sign on its back, which Nikki could only read because it was reversed printed on white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS. Ares snapped his fingers and the back door of the truck unlatched.

'And my mom?'

'Right. Anyways, she disappeared in a shower of gold, right? Metamorphosis, not death, girl. She was taken from the Minotaur before she could be.'

Nikki frowned, 'As a hostage? There's no real reason to do that unless you want to control someone by having leverage over them.'

'And someone wants leverage over you,' Ares drawled.

She blinked, 'Why?'

He rolled his eyes, 'Impressed as I am that I didn't have to explain the whole hostage thing to you, you can figure the rest out on your own. You're already halfway, girl.'

He tossed Nikki a blue nylon backpack which Nikki looked inside of. There was fresh clothes, $20, a pouch full of drachmas and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos. She hefted it on her shoulder, even though she wanted to throw it far away because it gave her a weird feeling but Ares could turn her into a rodent if she did that.

Nikki looked over at the diner, which only had a couple of customers now. Their waitress was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt them. She dragged the cook out to see, said something to him and he took a picture with a disposable camera. Nikki knew she'd be in the papers tomorrow again.

Ares left and they ran across the street to the KINDNESS INTERNATINAL truck.

Ω

Despite what the sign on the truck said, kindness was not what they delivered.

Using her marbles to create light, they saw that inside the truck was a row of filthy metal cages holding a zebra, male albino lion and an antelope.

The lion had a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat, while the zebra and antelope got trays of hamburger meat. There was chewing gum in the lion's man and there was a balloon attached to one of the antelope's horns that read OVER THE HILL.

Grover looked like he would have marched out of the truck and beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, Nikki right behind him, had the engine not have started and they were forced to sit down or fall down.

During the ride, they tried to help the animals out a bit. First swapping their food and then getting rid of the gum in the lion's mane and the balloon off the antelope's horn. Annabeth wanted to let them out of their cages but the lion still looked hungry so that idea was thrown away.

Grover curled up on a turnip sack while Annabeth and Nikki snacked on the Oreos.

'Hey,' Annabeth said. 'I'm sorry about freaking out before. It's just…spiders.' She shuddered.

'Because of the Arachne story,' Nikki guessed. 'She got turned into a spider for challenging your mother to a weaving contest.'

Annabeth nodded. 'Arachne's children have been taking revenge on Athena's children ever since. If there's a spider a mile from me, it'll find me. Anyway, I owe you.'

'Grover did the fancy flying.'

Nikki thought that Grover had been asleep but he mumbled from the corner, 'I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?'

They laughed.

Annabeth split an Oreo and handed it to Nikki. 'back at the Iris-message…did Luke say anything?'

Nikki was careful about what she said. 'Luke said you and him go way back. He also said that grover wouldn't fail this time, no one would be turned into a pine tree.' Their faces darkened even in the light.

Grover let out a mournful bray. 'I should've told you the truth from the beginning.' His voice trembled. 'I thought if you knew I was a failure, you wouldn't want me along.'

'You were the satyr assigned to Thalia, the daughter of Zeus.' She turned to Annabeth. 'You and Luke were the half-bloods that Thalia had befriended, weren't you?'

Annabeth put down her Oreo, uneaten. 'A seven year old half-blood couldn't have made it far alone. Thalia was twelve and Luke was fourteen, both of them had run away from home, like me and happy to take me along. They were…amazing monster fighters, even without training. We travelled without any real plans, fending off monsters before Grover found us.'

'I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp,' Grover said, sniffling. 'Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slowdown the rescue but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I got scared, kept taking wrong turns.'

'No one blames you,' Annabeth said. 'Thalia didn't blame you either. We don't care what the council says.'

Grover kept sniffling. 'It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods in the century, Thalia and Nikki.'

'You're not lame,' Nikki insisted. 'You've got more courage and the biggest heart of any satyr. You disobeyed orders because you wanted to save two more half-bloods. You're a natural searcher, that's why you'll be the first one to find Pan.'

Grover's sniffing became quieter.

As Annabeth thought, she rubbed her necklace.

'That pine tree bead,' Nikki said. 'Is that from your first year at camp?'

She nodded. 'At the end of the summer, counsellors pick the most important event of the summer and paint it on that year's bead. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress – now _that_ was a weird summer…'

'And the college ring is your father's?'

'That's none of your –' She stopped herself. 'Yeah, it is.'

'You don't have to tell me.'

'No…it's okay.' She took a shaky breath. 'My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have got through his doctoral programme at Harvard without her. He said he wanted me to have it and apologized for being a jerk, that he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him.'

'That doesn't seem so bad.'

'Yeah, well…the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year but my stepmom was the same as ever. Monsters attack and we argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to camp Half-Blood.'

Everything was silent until Nikki said, 'You're an unexpected factor.'

Annabeth gave her a funny look. 'What?'

'You're father sounds like someone that had a plan all figured out and when you unexpectedly came into his life, he didn't know what to do.' Nikki explained. 'He went on with his life, thinking that he would figure it out on the way. I guess the wrong message got across to you.' Nikki shrugged. 'Love is a fickle thing. You have it and then it disappears. He loved Athena but then she left him so he moved on.

'Your stepmom,' Nikki said thoughtfully. 'A mother's job is to take care of her children. You're not really her child, you're the man she loves' child. And not everyone can live a life with a half-blood kid in the family.'

Nikki looked at Annabeth straight in the eye. 'You shouldn't give up. Write to him or something.'

They sat in silence when Grover broke it. 'You're really grown up for a ten year old.'

'Yeah,' Annabeth said. 'You don't exactly act like a kid at all really. Thanks for the advice and I'm sorry about how I treated you at camp.'

Nikki nodded. 'No problem and I've been taking care of myself for as long as I can remember.'

'Why would you need to?' Grover said. 'Sally seems like the motherly type. She probably would have smothered you with love.'

Nikki was quiet for a long time. 'Sally Jackson isn't my real mom.' That both got their attention.

'She's my mother's cousin. To differentiate I call Sally 'mom' and my mother 'mother'. They both deserve to title.'

Annabeth asked the question. 'What…happen to your mother?'

Nikki sighed. 'She, along with my stepdad, died trying to protect me from a serial killer.' In the light, she could see both their eyes widen. I was given to my next-of-kin, which wasn't Sally since there was someone closer in blood relation and lived in the same continent.' Her voice turned cold. 'Let's just say that my relatives aren't the most pleasant of people.'

Ω

In Nikki's dream, she was in a straightjacket next to a girl that was also in a straightjacket. She was twelve with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy green eyes and freckles across her nose. Somehow Nikki was able to tell that this was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Nikki stared at her as she struggled in the straightjacket and then said, 'They miss you.'

Thalia stopped struggling and sighed sadly. 'I know. I miss them too.' She smiled sadly. 'Well, Seaweed Brain, one of us has to get out of here.'

She was right. The straightjacket melted off and the setting changed into the deep, dark pit she had been dreaming of. The voice was talking to somebody.

_Nikki Jackson_, it said. _ Yes, the exchange went well, I see_._ And she suspects nothing?_

Another voice answered it, one she recognized. _Nothing, my lord. She is ignorant as the rest._

_Deception upon deception_ it mused aloud. _Excellent._

_Truly, my lord,_ said the other, _you are well-named the Crooked One. But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly –_

_You? _it said in scorn_. You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened._

_But, my lord –_

_Peace, little servant. Our six months have brought us much. Zeus' anger has grown, Poseidon has played his most desperate card. Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands…but wait. She is here._

_What?_ The servant sounded tense._ You summoned him, my lord?_

_No._ The full force of the monster's attention was on her. _Blast her father's blood –she is too changeable, too unpredictable. The girl brought herself here._

_Impossible!_ The servant cried

_For a weakling such as you, perhaps_ the voice snarled._ So you wish to dream of your quest? Let me oblige._

The scene changed.

Standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors, the throne made of human bones and standing at the foot of the dais was the shimmering form of her mother.

The evil voice laughed. _Hail, the conquering hero!_

Ω

When Nikki woke up, the truck had stopped.

Annabeth disappeared under the invisibility cap while Grover and Nikki hid behind sacks of turnips as one of the truckers came into the back to check up on the monsters. When he started treating the animals badly, Nikki and Grover both wanted to murder him.

Annabeth began knocking on the walls, distracting the trucker and reappearing when the trucker left.

'This can't be legal,' she stated.

Grover stared at the lion and gasped. 'These guys are animal smugglers. We've got to free them.'

_Open my cage, princess. Please. I'll be fine after that._ The zebra spoke to her.

There was no objections from Nikki.

She grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock of the zebra's cage. He bowed, _thank you, princess_. As Nikki opened the other cages, Grover muttered a blessing for the zebra. Just as a trucker poked his head inside, the animals burst out. There was screaming, yelling and cars honking.

They rushed to the trailer doors and saw them running down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon lights. They had just released animals in Las Vegas.

The truckers, Eddie and Maurice, ran after them with a police officer chasing them. 'Hey! You need a permit for that!'

'What you'd do to them?' Nikki asked Grover as they ran through the crowd, away from the trailer.

'I gave them a blessing. They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live.'

'Why can't you put something like that on us?'

'It only works for wild animals.'

'So it would only affect Nikki,' Annabeth reasoned. Nikki stuck her tongue out at her.

'You know, this is kind of good,' Nikki said after a while.

'How so?' Annabeth asked.

'Las Vegas, the Lotus Hotel and Casino is where the third pearl is.'

'And you didn't see the need to mention this…why?'

'I had a feeling I didn't need to and it was right. We're in Las Vegas.'

They wandered around a bit in the forty degree wind, passing the Monte Carlo and the MGM. There were pyramids, a pirate ship and a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. They had no idea where they were going but somehow they found themselves in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

'This is the place,' Nikki said.

The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air conditioning that smelled like flowers – lotus blossoms.

They walked inside, and how it looked on the outside was deceiving since the whole front lobby, which resembled a game room, was filled with people. Before they could walk further, they were intercepted by a bellhop, 'Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here are your Lotus Cash cards!' he said and flashed them some cards. He didn't seem worried that they were minors.

'No, thank you,' Nikki said. 'We won't be staying long.' And they walked pass him, further into the crowd. As Nikki tried to look over the heads of multiple people, she muttered to herself, 'Though that might not be true.' How were they going to find one little pearl in here?

They were intercepted again but this time by a blond waitress, wearing a green strapless dress. 'Would you like a Lotus Flower? It's a house special.'

They said no but they were suddenly cornered by two more waitresses, wearing the same dress but had black and brown hair, and offered them the Lotus Flowers again.

To get to back off, Annabeth, Grover and Nikki all accepted one and since they wouldn't leave, watching them expectedly, they took a bite of the Lotus Flowers. They were delicious.

Nikki's mind started to get fuzzy and then she blanked out.


	17. Chapter 17

Nikki woke up covered in blood.

She was sitting on the floor of a completely dark room, straddling a man who had her knives sticking out of his chest which was dotted with other holes as well, suggesting that she had been stabbing him multiple times before she woke up. She could feel the man's blood all over the front of her body and her clothes were just hanging off her. She had bruises and a few cuts of her own but they looked more like struggle wounds.

After finding the light switch and turning the lights on, she saw that her clothes were ripped in certain places, like she had tried to run away only for someone to grab her, she assumed the man. The man was covered in his own blood but she could tell that he was middle-aged. From where she stood she could see that the man had his pants.

So he was a paedophile. The man had been about to rape her before she had killed him but Nikki couldn't remember whether she had led him on or he had forced himself on her. She couldn't remember what happen.

Nikki frowned. She couldn't remember anything after Annabeth, Grover and her walked into the Lotus Casino and eaten those Lotus Flowers. Her mind felt fuzzy and she could barely think but she knew that they had to get out of here.

After pulling her knives out of the man, Nikki looked for her beanie, sure that it had to be close in the area since she wouldn't have just left it somewhere even if she went out of her mind. Sure enough, she found it on the floor, attached to a belt like a pouch. Nikki was sure there had to be something that she could wear because there was no way that she would walk into a fancy casino and not steal something to take out with her.

She was right as she was able to find a red, spaghetti strapped dress and black socks thigh long.

Nikki grabbed some marbles, 'Find Annabeth and Grover.' She then threw them into the hallway, where they glowed, stopped in mid-air and flew in different directions, following her orders while she took a hot shower to get rid of all the blood and the smell.

She walked out of the room as she slipped on a blue cardigan, beanie safely on her head and followed the marbles that had come back to the two that had found Grover and Annabeth since her head was still fuzzy and so her sensory wasn't at its best. She passed a roulette table and found the pearl that they had come to find but she couldn't take it since there were too many people around so she kept on walking.

Nikki finally found Annabeth, who was attached to a 3-D sim game where you could build your own city and actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board.

'Come on,' Nikki told her. 'We've got to get out of here.'

No response.

Nikki shook her. She looked up, annoyed. 'What?'

'We need to leave.'

'Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers –'

'This place is a trap.'

Nikki had to shake her again. 'Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!'

'Just a few more minutes.'

'No! you check in, and you stay forever.'

'So?' Annabeth asked. 'Can you imagine a better place?'

Nikki grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the table and slapped her. Annabeth's head snapped to the side and she stared in shock. Nikki kept on dragging her as Annabeth nursed her sore cheek to where she could feel the marble that had located Grover.

Grover was sitting in a dance club with ten girls or more and he was talking while the girls all listened enthusiastically.

Grover looked up and grinned. 'Hey, Nikki.'

'Grover, we have to go.'

Grover shook his head. 'No, we can't. I'm going to get married to…' He looked at all the girls surrounding him. 'Which one of you did I propose to?' he said, turning his head as all the girls yelled 'me'.

Nikki looked behind her, feeling as if she was being watched and saw a bellhop speaking into in wrist, probably a microphone.

She turned back to Grover and clapped her hands in front of his face. 'Grover, the quest!' she grabbed a cup of what was probably not water and splashed it into his face.

He knocked out of it. 'The que…oh! The quest!' he grabbed a bag that Nikki remembered as the bag Ares had given them and they all began running out of the club.

Back in the game room, they were intercepted by the waitresses all offering them a Lotus Flower again but they just ran past them. Nikki looked around and saw guys in green uniforms, probably security, heading towards them from all directions.

Grover and Annabeth ran on ahead as Nikki grabbed some of her marbles, flinging one at a time in different directions, causing explosions, confetti and mini fireworks as distraction. She was watching where she was going so she bumped into someone and they both fell to the floor.

It was a boy, about her age, black hair and brown eyes, holding a pack of cards. Her mind categorized him as important but she didn't have time to think about it at the moment. She helped him up and ran away, screaming a 'sorry' behind her.

Before Nikki left the casino completely, she jumped onto the roulette table and took the pearl off the roulette. 'I'll be taking this.' She said cheerfully as jumped of the table and headed straight for the exit where Annabeth and Grover had just gone through

They walked around Las Vegas for a while, trying to think of a plan when Nikki caught sight of a newspaper displaying the date. She showed it to Grover and Annabeth.

The date said they only had one day left til the summer solstice.


	18. Chapter 18

It was Annabeth's idea.

She loaded them into a Las Vegas cab and told the driver, 'Los Angeles, please.'

The cabbie looked them over. 'That's a hundred miles. For that you gotta pay up.'

'You accept casino debit cards?' Annabeth asked.

He shrugged. 'Some of 'em. Same as credit cards but I gotta swipe 'em first.'

Annabeth handed him a green Lotus Cash card and though he looked sceptical at first, swiped them. The meter machine rattled and the lights flashed, then finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

The cabbie gaped and looked back at them with wide eyes. 'To Los Angeles, right…uh, Your Highness.'

Annabeth sat up a little straighter, she definitely like the 'Your Highness' thing. 'Yes. Get us there fast, and you can keep the change.'

Nikki didn't know if telling the cabbie to get them there was a good thing or not. The speedometer never dipped below ninety five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

Ω

During the ride, they had plenty of time to talk. Nikki told them about the voice in the pit and the servant but the details were sketchy. Annabeth listed nicknames for Hades, trying to make Nikki remember what the servant had called the voice in the pit but Nikki said no to all of them.

Nikki didn't believe that the voice was Hades'. It didn't feel like a gods' and it was much older...more ancient.

'What are these?' Grover asked as he examined one of Nikki's blood marbles in his fingers.

'They're just marbles,' Nikki said, snatching the marble back.

Grover shook his head, frantically. 'Those are not 'just' marbles. I've seen them explode and make mini fireworks!'

'I've been wondering about that, too,' Annabeth joined in.

Nikki shrugged. 'So they're explosive marbles.'

'Oh, come on,' Grover whined. 'Give us more than that.'

Nikki sighed. 'They're made of blood and they do weird things, that's all I'm telling you.'

And that was that.

Ω

The cabbie dropped them off at West Hollywood. They showed him the Underworld address slip Nikki had taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he said that he had never heard of DOA Recording Studios and drove off.

They walked around, making sure to not get recognized and asked random people if they had heard of DOA Recording Studios but nobody seemed to know where it was. Nikki couldn't lead them there since her mind was still offline from the Lotus Flowers so her sensory skills would have just gotten them lost.

A few times they had to duck into alleys to avoid cop cars.

Nikki stopped in front of an appliance store window, where a television was playing an interview with a reporter and Smelly Gabe and then showed the photo the cook at the diner had taken.

'Who are the other children?' the reporter said dramatically. 'Who is the man with them? Is Nikki Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps the brainwashed victim of a frightening new cult? When we come back, we chat with a child psychologist. Stay tuned, America.'

As it got dark, the dangerous characters started coming out on the streets to play. For someone who liked hanging out on the streets at night, Nikki didn't scare easy. Every city had a different feel but any kid could be safe as long as they weren't stupid.

As they entered an alley, a voice from the darkness said, 'Hey, you.'

Nikki turned around and then they were surrounded - a gang of six kids wearing expensive clothes and mean faces, they reminded her of the bad boys at Yancy. One of the kids, obviously the leader, charged first, switchblade in front.

Nikki didn't even flinch. When the switchblade reached her, she sidestepped and grabbed his wrist. Using his momentum against him, Nikki flipped him over her shoulder into the two boys blocking the exit. 'Run!'

'There!' Annabeth shouted as they turned a sharp corner, pointing to the only store that was open on the block. The sign above the door said something like: CRSTUY'S WATREBDE ALPACE.

'Crusty's Waterbed Palace?' Grover translated. And they burst through the doors, ran behind a waterbed and ducked. A split second later, the gang kids ran past outside.

'I think we've lost them,' Grover panted.

A voice behind them boomed. 'Lost who?'

They jumped.

Standin behind them was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least two metres tall, with absolutely no hair. He had greay leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold reptilian smile. He moved towards them slowly, but Nikki got the feeling he could move fast if he needed to.

His suit might've come from the Lotus Casino. It belonged back in the seventies, big time. The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips. There were multiple silver chains around his neck.

'I'm Crusty,' he said, with a tartar-yellow smile. 'Say, you want to look at a waterbed?'

Nikki was about to say 'No, thanks,' when he put his paw on her shoulder and steered her deeper into the showroom. There was every kind of waterbed you could imagine, different kinds of wood, different patterns of sheets; queen size, king size, emperor of the universe size.

'This is my most popular model.' Crusty spread his hands proudly over abed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the head board. The mattress vibrated, so it looked oil-flavoured jelly.

'Million hand massage,' Crusty told them. 'Go on, try it out, take a nap, I don't care. No business today, anyway.'

Grover dived in. 'This is cool.'

'Hmm,' Crusty said, stroking his leathery chin. 'Almost, almost.'

'Almost what?'

He looked over at Annabeth. 'Do me a favour and try this one over here, honey. Might fit.' He led her over to the Safari Deluxe model with teakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard patterned bedspread. When Annabeth didn't lie down, Crusty pushed her and snapped his fingers. '_Ergo!_'

A set of ropes leaped out from the top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around Grover and Annabeth's ankles then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, stretching them from both ends.

Nikki blinked while Crusty muttered something about length and making them fit. She snuck up behind him and pushed him towards a waterbed, snapping her fingers and saying, '_Ergo!_'

She uncapped Riptide. 'You're a little too big for this. Centre him just right.' The ropes readjusted themselves at her command, Crusty's whole head stuck out the top and his feet stuck out the bottom. 'I'll think I'll start with the top.' She swung the sword and Crusty disappeared.

Nikki cut the ropes off Grover and Annabeth who got to their feet, wincing, groaning and cursing Nikki for taking so long.

'You look taller,' Nikki said.

'Very funny,' Annabeth said. 'Be faster next time.'

Nikki looked at the bulletin board behind Crusty's sales desk. There was an advertisement for Hermes Delivery Service, and another for the All-New Compendium of L.A. Area Monsters – 'The only Monstrous Yellow Pages you'll ever need!' Under that, a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for heroes' souls. 'We are always looking for new talent!' DOA's address was right underneath with a map.

'Come on.'

'Give us a minute,' Grover complained. 'We were almost stretched to death!'

'Then you're ready for the Underworld,' Niki said. 'It's only a block from here.'


	19. Chapter 19

NO SOLICITORS, NO LOITERING, NO LIVING.

That was what was said in Valencia Boulevard, on a stencil underneath gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.

It was almost midnight but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people, but if you stared long enough, the people would start to become slightly transparent. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.

'Let me do the talking,' Nikki reminded the two and they nodded. Nikki took the pearls out of her pockets and gave them each, keeping one for herself. 'When I tell you to, crush the pearls under your foot and think of the sea.' Annabeth and Grover nodded.

They entered the DOA lobby, where muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel grey, pencil cactuses grew in corners like skeleton hands and the furniture was black leather with every seat taken. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything.

They approached the security desk, which was a raised podium so they had to look up.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-coloured skin and bleached blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

'You're name is Chiron?' Nikki asked.

He leaned across his desk, his smile sweet and cold like a python's before it eats you.

'Tell me, young lady, do I look like a centaur?' He had a strange accent, as if he had learnt English as a second language.

'No, sir.'

He pinched his name tag and ran his finger under the letters. 'Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. say it with me: CARE-ON.'

'Charon.'

'Amazing! Now: _Mr_ Charon.'

'Mr Charon,' she said.

'Well done.' He sat back. 'I _hate_ being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how may I help you little dead ones?'

Nikki blinked a couple of times and then grinned. 'We want to go to the Underworld,' she said, cheerfully.

'Well, that's refreshing.' Charon's mouth twitched. 'No screaming, no 'there must be a mistake, Mr Charon.'' He looked them over. 'How's you die?'

'We were AK'd.'

All three blinked. 'AK'd?' they said in unison.

Nikki nodded. 'Yep, Avada Kedavra.'

'Ah…' Charon drawled. 'You're one of those people. I don't suppose you have coins for passage, drachmas or galleons will work.'

Nikki made a show of searching her pockets and the three drachmas she had in her pocket and handed them to Charon. 'I have these, not sure what they are.'

Charon examined them. 'These will do. The boats almost full, anyway; I might as well add you three and be off.'

He escorted them to an elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with them and pushed them back into the lobby.

'Right. Now, no one gat any ideas while I'm gone and if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?'

As they started to descend, Annabeth asked, 'What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?'

'Nothing,' Charon said.

'For how long?'

'Forever, or until I'm feeling generous.'

'Oh. That's…fair.'

Charon and Nikki raised an eyebrow. 'Whoever said death was fair.' Nikki said and Charon followed up with a 'You'll die soon with where you're going.'

'You now we're not dead?' Grover asked, astonished.

'Well, not right away, no,' Charon admitted. He pointed to Nikki, 'This little missy here has the curse all over her so I didn't notice until you were on the boat.'

They weren't going down but forwards as the elevator turned into a boat, a wooden barge. The spirits began changing shape, their modern clothes flickering and turning into grey hooded robes.

Charon's Italian suit was replaced with a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone and where his eyes should have been were empty sockets. They reminded Nikki of Ares' eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night, death and despair.

Charon was now rowing the boat in mid-air; underneath them was a burning city, flames and lava everywhere and above them was a ceiling of stalactites. Floating in the air with them were broken and obscure object – plastic dolls, crushed carnations, ripped diplomas.

The River Styx,' Annabeth murmured. 'It's so…'

'Polluted,' Charon said. 'For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing everything as you come across – hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me.'

Nikki grabbed a guitar out of the air and examined it. The strings were still attached so she decided to play a song to lighten up the mood but the song she had decided to play just happen to be 'This is Halloween.'

Their boat slid onto black sand and they started talking, Nikki throwing the guitar back into the River Styx. Annabeth explained what she could, though Percy just stared in interest at the airport-like appearance of the Underworld. They finally reached the place where the lines finally split into three separate ones – one line going straight to Asphosel and the other two for souls that wished to be judge, which had three judges that switched around occasionally.

'Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs and special reward – the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad, so they go to the Fields of Asphodel. It's like standing in a wheat field in Kansas forever.'

Finally, Cerberus came into view – a huge Rottweiler. They were only able to get through because Annabeth had shown her obedience training and played with the giant dog as they slipped pass him.

'So, no matter how big it is, it's still a dog.' Nikki stated after they had regrouped. 'I'll remember that the next time I face a giant dog.' She had to resist the urge to go back and play with Cerberus when she heard its mournful keening in the distance, longing for his new friend.


	20. Chapter 20

Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian and above the parapets were the Furies. It was like they were waiting for them.

'I suppose it's too late to turn back,' Grover said wistfully.

Suddenly, Grover yelped; his trainers had sprouted wings and his feet shot forward, pulling him away from them.

'Grover,' Annabeth chided. 'Stop messing around.'

'_Maia!'_ he yelled, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. '_Maia,_ already! 911! Help!'

Annabeth and Nikki shared a look and raced after the flying satyr.

Annabeth shouted, 'Untie the shoes!'

It was a smart idea but it's not so easy when your shoes are pulling you along feet-first at full speed. Nikki thought that Grover was going to barrel straight through the gates of Hades' place, but his shoes veered sharply to the right and dragging him in the opposite direction.

The slope got bigger and Grover picked up speed. Nikki and Annabeth had to sprint to keep up they entered a side tunnel. 'Grover, hold onto something,' Nikki yelled.

'What?' he yelled back.

The tunnel got darker and colder and Nikki finally saw where Grover was heading. It was huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block.

Nikki threw marbles at him and like connect-the-dots, they joined together to create something like a lasso that wrapped around Grover. It became a tug-of-war between Annabeth and Nikki and the sneakers.

What saved him were his hooves.

The shoes were always a loose fit on Grover and this time, they slipped right off and into the chasm. They collapsed, exhausted, on the obsidian gravel.

'I don't know how…' Grover panted. 'I didn't…'

'Listen,' Nikki interrupted.

A deep whisper in the darkness but it was getting louder - a muttering, evil voice from far, far below them from the pit. Nikki uncapped Riptide and the evil voice seemed to falter, just for a moment, before resuming its chant,

'We have to get out of here,' Annabeth said.

Nikki grabbed Ares' backpack Grover had been carrying and they started back up the tunnel but the backpack was weighing Nikki down. The voice got louder and angrier and the broke into a run.

Not a moment too soon.

A cold blast of wind pulled at their backs, as if the entire pit was inhaling. They kept struggling forward and finally reached the top, where the cavern widened into the Fields of Asphodel and the wind died down. a wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel - something was not happy they'd gotten away.

Whatever was in the pit was unspeakably old and powerful. Nikki was almost relieved to turn her back on the tunnel and head towards the palace of Hades.

Almost.

Ω

Hades' palace was like a dark beauty of an architectural masterpiece. Persephone's garden was filled with precious jewels as a replacement for flowers, though there were a few plants that didn't need sunlight to grow.

They had to move quickly pass the garden because the smell of the pomegranate tempted them to eat it but knowing that eating one would make sure they could never leave was enough to stop them, though Annabeth and Nikki had to keep a good hold on Grover to stop him from trying to grab one.

Every doorway was guarded by skeletons in military gear. They either wore Greek armour, British redcoat uniforms, and camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears, muskets or M-16s but none of them bothered the three but their hollow sockets followed them.

'You know,' Grover mumbled. 'I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmans.

A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open and the guards stepped aside.

'I guess that means '_entrez','_ Annabeth said.

Hades was the third god Nikki had met but he was the first to come off as godlike. At least three metres tall, he was dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He radiated power and lounged on a throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful and dangerous.

'You are brave to come here, Daughter of Poseidon,' he said in an oily voice. 'After what you have done to me, very brave indeed, or perhaps you are simply very foolish.'

Nikki looked confused. 'What exactly have I done to you, Uncle Hades?'

'Do not play innocent,' Hades said. 'I see my brother's plan.'

'His plan?'

'_You_ were the thief on the winter solstice. Your father directed you into the throne room to steal the master bolt –'

'But didn't _you_ steal the master bolt?' Nikki interrupted. 'To start a war?'

'Do you think I want war, godling?!' Hades' bellowed. 'I want my helmet back!'

'Lord Hades,' Annabeth started hesitantly. 'Your helm of darkness is missing too?'

'You and the satyr have come with this hero to threaten me in Poseidon's name, no doubt. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed into supporting him in this war he wishes to start?'

'No!'

'I have said nothing of the helmet's disappearance,' Hades snarled, 'because I had no illusion that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. So I searched for you myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you.' He glared down at them. 'Return my helm and I will return you this.'

Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of Nikki and there was her mom, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was at the moment the Minotaur began to squeeze her to death.

Nikki glared back at Hades, her eyes glowing the colour of the Avada Kedavra. 'I came her for the master bolt!' she yelled at him.

'Which you already possess!' Hades shouted. 'You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could threaten me.'

'But I don't!'

'Open your pack, then.'

Nikki paused and slowly removed the bag from her shoulders. The weight like a bowling ball…

She unzipped it and inside was a sixty-centimetre-long cylinder, spiked in both ends, humming with energy.

'Nikki,' Annabeth said. 'How –'

'I don't know.'

'You heroes are always the same,' Hades said. 'Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus' master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now…my helmet. Where is it?'

Nikki's face was shadowed as she slowly zipped the backpack up and hefted it on her shoulders. 'Get your pearls, guys.'

'Ah, the pearls,' Hades said. 'Only three, what a shame. You do realize that one pearl only protects one person, you won't be able to take your mother.'

'Crush them, now.' Nikki told Annabeth and Grover, who looked hesitant at the information.

'But –'

'Just do it!'

Nikki turned back to Hades, who looked beyond angry, and crushed her pearl. 'There has been a mistake, Lord Hades. Don't worry, I'll get your helm back.'

Hades yelled, 'Destroy them!' An army of skeletons rose, swords out, guns clicking to full automatic. The Furies lunged, their whips bursting into flames.

Just as the skeletons opened fire, the pearl exploded at their feet with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wing. They were encased in a milky white sphere, which started to float of the ground.

They went through the ceiling and appeared in water, the bubbles supplying air until they were high enough that they could swim the rest of the way up.

They broke through the surface, in the middle of Los Angeles bay. They grabbed a life buoy and Nikki told a curious shark to beat it.

In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighbourhoods all over the city. Hades was mad and had created an earthquake. Probably sending an army of dead after them.

'We were tricked,' Nikki told them. 'Set up.'

'Yes, but why?' Annabeth asked. 'And the voice in the pit –'

'I don't know yet,' Nikki said. 'But I intend to ask.'


	21. Chapter 21

A coast guard picked them up but there was still a disaster to mop up so they were left at the Santa Monica pier with towels over their shoulders.

They were all wet, even Nikki, having willed herself to get soaked. She was also barefoot since she had given her shoes to Grover. Better for the coast guard to wonder why one of them was barefoot than wonder why one of them had hooves.

They sat on dry land, watching a burning city against a beautiful sunrise - the backpack was empty with Zeus' master bolt.

'I don't believe it,' Annabeth said. 'We went all that way –'

'It was a trick,' Nikki said. 'A strategy worthy of Athena.'

'Hey,' she warned.

'You get it, don't you?'

Annabeth dropped her eyes, her anger fading. 'Yeah, I get it.'

'Well, I don't!' Grover complained.

'The prophecy was right,' Nikki said. ''You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war between the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft of Zeus' master bolt and Hades' helmet and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides and by sundown today, there will be a three-way war.'

Grover shook his head, mystified. 'But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?'

Nikki stood up and dusted the sand off. She turned around, looking up to where the sand started. 'Gee, let me think.'

There he was in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminium baseball bat popped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.

'Hey, kid,' Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see her. 'You were supposed to die.'

'I'm very hard to kill,' Nikki said. 'Did you steal the helmet and master bolt?'

Ares grinned. 'Well, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbol of power – that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands.'

'Who did you use?'

'Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impending the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld, and then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus' master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at _him_. And Hades is still looking for this…'

From his pocket he took out a ski cap – the kind bank robbers wear – and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed in an elaborate bronze war helmet.

'The helm of darkness,' Grover gasped.

'Exactly,' Ares said. 'Now where was i? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going.'

'But they're your family!' Annabeth protested.

Nikki quietly snorted and Ares shrugged. 'Best kind of war, always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching you relatives fight, I always say.'

'The master bolt was in the backpack the whole time?' Nikki asked.

'Yes and no,' Ares said. 'It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades and bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way – no loss, I still had the weapon.'

'But why not keep the master bolt for yourself?' Nikki asked. 'Why send it to Hades?'

Ares got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. 'Why didn't I…yeah…with that kind of fire-power…'

As he held the trance, Nikki sent Annabeth a meaningful look.

Ares face cleared. 'I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing.'

'You're lying,' Nikki said. 'Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?'

'Of course it was!' Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

'You didn't order the theft,' Nikki guessed. 'Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief, but you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around.'

'I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!'

Nikki smirked. 'Who said anything about dreams?'

Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk.

'Let's get to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking the bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hard-headed idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal.'

He snapped his fingers and the sand exploded at his feet. Out charged a wild boar, bigger than the one that hung above the door of cabin seven at Camp Half-Blood. It pawed the ground, its beady eyes glaring at Nikki and waited for the command to kill.

Nikki raised an eyebrow. 'Not gonna fight me yourself Ares?'

He laughed. 'You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera, you ran from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes.'

'Scared?'

'In your adolescent dreams.' But his glasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes. 'No direct involvement. Sorry, kid, you're not at my level.'

Annabeth said, 'Nikki, run!'

The giant boar charged. But Nikki didn't run.

As the boar rushed towards her, she uncapped Riptide and waited. 'Panzerschild,'she whispered and the boar hit an invisible wall. She swung downward and like so many monsters before, chopped off its head. She turned back to Ares.

'Are you going to fight me now?' she asked. 'Or are you going to hide behind another pet pig?'

Ares' face turned purple with rage. 'Watch it, kid I could turn you into –'

'A cockroach,' she said, swing her sword around nonchalantly. 'Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?'

Flames danced along the top of his glasses. 'Oh, man, you are really asking to be smasked into a grease spot.'

'If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt. If I win, the helmet and the bolt are mine and _you_ have to go away.'

Ares sneered. He swung his baseball bat off his shoulder. 'How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?'

She showed him her sword.

'That's cool, dead girl,' he said. 'Classic it is.' The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.

'Annabeth,' Nikki said. 'I need your knife.'

Annabeth handed it over. 'Are you sure about this, Nikki? He's a god.'

'He's a coward,' Nikki told her.

'Good luck, Nikki,' Grover said.

'You all done saying goodbye?' Ares came towards Nikki, his black leather duster trailing behind him, his sword glinting like fire in the sunrise. 'I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?'

He cleaved downward at her head, but she catapulted over him, slashing as she came down. Ares twisted, and the strike that should've caught him directly in the spine was deflected off the end of his sword hilt.

He grinned. 'Not bad, not bad.'

He slashed again but Nikki blocked it with Annabeth's knife, wincing from the strength of the blow and thrust her sword at Ares, just as his strength beat hers and he got pushed past the knife. She jumped out of the day, throwing the knife which was deflected by Ares sword.

Ares and Nikki blocked blow for blow but Ares was pushing Nikki so hard that she had to put her concentration on not getting sliced to pieces and he made sure to keep her away from the surf. Then Ares was able to knock her sword out of her hand.

He kicked Nikki in the chest and she went fifteen, maybe twenty metres into the air. She probably would have broken her back if she hadn't crashed into the soft sand of a dune.

'Nikki!' Annabeth yelled. 'Cops!'

Nikki stood up, grabbing Annabeth's knife from the sand, keeping her eyes on Ares but from the corner of her eyes, she saw red lights flashing on the shoreline boulevard.

'There, officer!' somebody yelled. 'See?'

A gruff cop voice: 'Looks like that kid on TV…what the heck…'

'That guy's armed,' another cop said. 'Call for backup.'

Ares slashed his sword and Nikki just waved her arm, palm open and a wall of ice appeared between them. She punched the ice and it burst out towards Ares, who just sidestepped it. Now that she had lost her sword, which hadn't returned to her pocket yet, she know had a very short blade and from her experience with knives before, she knew she had to get close and personal.

Nikki waved her arm in different direction, concentrating hard and controlling the waves. Some waves froze and some appeared behind Ares, manoeuvring him around the beach, distracting him and making him angry so that he'd make a mistake and allow Nikki closer.

There were more sirens now and a police voice on a megaphone said, 'Drop the guns! Set them on the ground. Now!'

Ares glared at the spectators. There were five police cars now, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on them.

'This is a private matter!' Ares bellowed. 'Be gone!'

He swept his hand, and a wall of red flame rolled across the patrol cars. The police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming.

Ares roared with laughter. 'Now, little hero, let's add you to the barbeque.'

But that was all Nikki needed.

The distracted Ares didn't notice the large wave rushing towards him until it hit. His distraction had also given Riptide enough time to reappear in Nikki's pocket, which she used to attack Ares but even with salt water in his eyes, he was still able to dodge. But he had gone knee deep into the sea and Nikki was able to hit him with another wave which had hidden icicles and one of them was able to get him in the ankle.

The roar that followed made Hades' earthquake look like a minor event. The very sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifteen metres wide.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the war god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, and complete disbelief that he'd been wounded.

He limped towards Nikki, muttering ancient Greek curses.

Something stopped him.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded, sound and colour drained away. A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing and making Nikki feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted.

Ares looked stunned.

Police cars were burning behind them and the crowd of spectators had fled. Annabeth and Grover stood on the beach, in shock, watching the water flood back around Ares' feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide.

Ares lowered his sword.

'You have made an enemy, godling,' he told Nikki. 'You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Nikita Jackson. Beware.

His body began to glow.

'Nikki!' Annabeth shouted. 'Don't watch!'

Nikki turned away as the god revealed his true immortal form. If she looked, she would've disintegrated into ashes. The light died and Ares was gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades' bronze helmet of darkness. Nikki picked it up and walked back to the others.

Before she got there, there was the sound of flapping leathery wings and the three evil-looking grandmothers drifted down from the sky and landed in front of Nikki. The middle Fury, the one who had been Mrs Dodds, stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but for once she didn't look threatening. She looked more disappointed, as if she'd been planning to have Nikki for supper, but decided she might give her indigestion.

'We saw the whole thing,' she hissed. 'So…it truly was not you?'

Nikki tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise. 'That's what I've been saying the whole time,' Nikki said. 'Return that to Lord Hades and tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war.'

She hesitated, than ran a forked tongue over her green leathery lips. 'Live well, Nikki Jackson. Become a true hero, because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again…' she cackled, savouring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bat's wing, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky and disappeared.

'Nikki…' Grover said. 'That was so incredibly…'

'Terrifying,' said Annabeth.

'Cool!' Grover corrected.

Nikki was panting, her energy drained. 'Did you guys feel that…whatever it was?' she asked.

They both nodded uneasily.

'Must've been the Furies overhead,' Grover said.

Something had stopped Ares from killing Nikki, and whatever could do that was a lot stronger than the Furies. She looked at Annabeth and an understanding passed between them. She now knew what was in that pit, what had spoken from the entrance of Tartarus.

'We have to get back to New York,' Nikki said. 'By tonight.'

'That's impossible,' Annabeth said, 'unless we –'

'Fly,' she agreed.

She was stared at. 'Fly, like, in an aeroplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strikes you out of the sky, _and_ carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?'

'Yeah,' she said. 'Pretty much exactly that. Come on.'

Ω

A/N: Please review on my first fight scene

50 reviews! I didn't expect that much at all


	22. Chapter 22

According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidently hit a gas main that had been raptured during the earthquake.

The is crazy kidnapper (a.k.a Ares) was the same man who had abducted Nikki Jackson and two other adolescents in New York and brought them across the country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

Poor little Nikki Jackson wasn't an international criminal, after all. She'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from her captor (and afterwards, witnesses would even swear that had seen the leather-clad man on the bus – 'Why didn't I remember him before?') The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St Louis Arch. After all, no kid could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo and notified the police.

Finally, brave Nikki Jackson had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Nikki Jackson and his two friends were safely in police custody.

It was funny how humans wrap their minds around things and fit them into their version of reality.

Ω

Nikki was able to buy three tickets for the next plane to New York. It seemed that Nikki had a lot of money in her beanie, which she had apparently won in the Lotus Casino at a poker table. Or she could have stolen it, that she was not so sure of since Nikki couldn't remember anything about the five days they had spent with the Lotus Eaters.

The whole ride, they were tense, fully expecting to be shot out of the sky by Zeus but nothing happened.

They split up at the taxi stand. Annabeth and Grover were going back to Camp Half-Blood and let Chiron know the truth. They protested, but Nikki told them that they had to tell Chiron the truth, just in case the gods didn't believe her.

Nikki hopped into a taxi and headed to Manhattan.

Ω

Thirty minutes later, Nikki walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building.

'Six hundredth floor,' Nikki said to the guard at the front desk.

He looked up from the book he was reading. 'No such floor, kiddo.'

'I need an audience with Zeus.'

He gave a vacant smile. 'Sorry?'

'You heard me.'

Nikki was about to decide that he was just a regular mortal, when he said, 'No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced.'

'Oh, I think he'll make an exception.' She slipped the backpack off her shoulder and unzipped the top.

The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder, not getting what it was for a few second, then his face went pale. 'That isn't…'

'Yes, it is,' she promised. 'You want me to take it out and –'

'No! No!' he scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, than handed it to Nikki. 'Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you.'

As soon as the elevator doors closed, she slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600. She pushed it and waited, and waited.

Do you know how wrong it is to listen to elevator music while you're trying to prevent World War III?

Finally, the doors opened and she stepped out. Nikki was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below was Manhattan, from the height of an aeroplane. In front of her, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces – a city of mansions – all with white-columned porticos, gilded terraces and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires.

Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. She could make out an open-air market filled with colourful tents, a stone amphitheatre built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins. It was new, and clean, and colourful, the way the Athens must've looked twenty five hundred years ago.

It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld. There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, everything was white and silver.

Nikki walked through Olympus in a daze until; finally, she made it to the throne room, though room really isn't the right word. The place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet.

Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left. Nikki didn't have to be told who the two gods were.

She didn't bow or greet either of them. She stood there in disrespect, looking them both in the eye grimly. The one whose air crackled and smelled of ozone narrowed his eyes at her.

'You dare stand there in insolence? Do you know what we can do to you, impertinent girl?' his voice rumbled.

Her lips tightened slightly into a purse, but she didn't show any other reaction, maintaining her indifferent exterior.

'Then why don't you?' she challenged. 'I stand here and say nothing in defence. Do what you will, I say nothing against it.'

Zeus blinked in shock then turning stoic again, but already he'd already shown his confusion and hesitation.

Clearly, they were not used to someone not crumbling in fear and begging forgiveness and grovelling in reverence. They had not expected someone to just accept their fate, unlike all others before who had succumbed to fear and weakness.

Nikki stood there in resignation and refusal.

'I have destroyed and transformed others into rodents for lesser acts of disobedience,' Zeus quietly spoke. 'And yet, for once, why bother with one such as you who does not even care? There is no point in punishing an indifferent person when nothing will change. You will not repent.'

'No, I wouldn't,' she answered just as quietly, but in a firm voice. "And I'll stand here regardless."

When they were punishing others for their slights, the sufferers had always been afraid and recanted. To punish one who wasn't and wouldn't was unheard of for them, and would be pointless. The whole point was that the person _cared_ about what happened to them. And that's why Zeus chose to surprisingly back down.

The truth was that the gods couldn't do anything worse to her.

Nikki slipped the bag off her shoulder. She opened it and grabbed the master bolt, it crackling in her hand.

'I believe you want this back?' she said and threw it at Zeus, who caught it.

'So you admit to being the thief?'

'I am not the thief,' Nikki said firmly. 'Do not be so quick to judge.'

Zeus looked angry but Poseidon calmed him down.

'Peace, brother,' Poseidon said. 'Let the girl tell her story.'

And so Nikki did, she told them everything, even about the pit.

'Ares did not act alone. Someone else – something else – came up with the idea.'

'So Hades is at fault after all,' Zeus growled.

'There you go again,' Nikki muttered. 'No, I've felt the presence of Lord Hades. This feeling was different, the same thing I felt near the entrance of Tartarus. Something powerful and evil is stirring down there…something older than the gods.'

Zeus and Poseidon looked at each other and had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. Poseidon made some kind of suggestion, but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue but Zeus held up his hand angrily. 'We will speak of this no more,' Zeus said. 'I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human taints from its metal.'

Zeus rose and looked at Nikki. 'Do not presume to fly again. Do not let me find you here when I return. Otherwise you shall taste this bolt and it shall be your last sensation.'

Thunder shook the place and with a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone. Nikki was left alone in the throne room with her father.

Nikki tch'd. 'Dramatic, don't you think?'

Poseidon sighed. 'Very.'

Nikki stared at him for a few moments. 'You were the man at the park, weren't you?'

He walked towards her, shrinking to a human size. 'I'm surprised you remember that, but yes that was me. And do not worry, your mother has been returned.'

A weight seemed to have lifted from Nikki's shoulders. 'She's my mom. The title of mother belongs to someone else.'

Poseidon gave a sad smile and nodded. 'I am sorry you were born, child. I have brought you a hero's fate, and a hero's fate is never happy. It is never anything but traffic.'

Nikki shook her head. 'I've already got a hero's fate hanging over my head so I don't really mind.'

As Nikki walked back through the city of the gods, conversations stopped. The muses paused their concert, people, satyrs and naiads turned towards her, their faces filled with respect and gratitude. As she passed, they knelt, as if she was some kind of hero.

Ω

When Nikki got back to the apartment, Sally enveloped her in a big hug.

'Oh, Nikki,' she cried. 'I was so worried! I just appeared in the apartment this morning and then I heard the news. Are you alright?'

Nikki grunted. 'Of course I am. I'm the Girl-Who-Lived.'

Sally laughed and they spent the rest of the day with Nikki telling Sally about her quest.

'You are definitely getting a house,' Nikki stated. 'We can connect the floo and I don't have to worry about Smelly Gabe anymore.'

Sally smiled sadly. 'I'm not going to be seeing much of you.'

Nikki smiled back. 'Don't worry. You're not getting rid of me that easily.'


	23. Chapter 23

When Nikki returned to camp, there was a big feast in her honour as well as Annabeth and Grover. It then led to a procession down to the bonfire, where they had fun burning the burial shrouds that the campers had made for them.

Grover had finally gained his searcher's license. The Council of Cloven Elders had called Grover's performance on the quest 'Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past.

Not everyone was in a party mood. Clarisse and her siblings were glaring at Nikki wherever she went. They'd never forgive her for disgracing their dad, which was okay with Nikki.

As for Sally, she was still going to school but she had finally given into the idea of getting their own house, if only so they would have more space and for Nikki to have a straight connection home. So far, the summer was ending well.

Ω

The whole camp gathered at the beach for a firework display by cabin nine. According to Annabeth, who'd seen it before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of an animation across the sky.

As Annabeth and Nikki were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to say goodbye. He was dressed the same but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee got thicker, he put on weight and his horns had grown a few centimetres at least, so now he had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human.

'I'm off,' he said. 'I just came to say…well, you know.'

Nikki was happy for him and gave him a hug. 'Don't say goodbye. Say, 'see, you next time.' Where are you going first?'

'Kind of a secret,' he said looking embarrassed. 'I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan…'

'We understand,' Annabeth said. 'You got enough tin cans?'

'Yeah.'

'And you remembered your reed pipes?'

'Jeez, Annabeth,' he grumbled. 'You're like an old mama goat.' But he didn't really sound annoyed.

Then he was gone, the trees closing around him.

Ω

This summer's bead was pitch-black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the centre.

'The choice was unanimous,' Luke announced. 'This bead commemorates the first daughter of Poseidon at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the underworld to stop a war!'

The next morning, there was a form letter on the bedside table. Nikki knew that Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting her name wrong:

**Dear**** _Nicole Johnson_****,**

**If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit.**

**Have a nice day!**

**Mr D (Dionysus)**

**Camp Director, Olympian Council no.12**

It was and easy choice. Nikki went down to the Big House and informed them she was going home. Then she went to the forest.

That's where she found Luke, sitting by the creek, drinking from a coke can with an odd sword in his hand. The blade was two different types of metal – one edge bronze, the other steel.

'What sword is that?' Nikki asked, suddenly next to him, surprising Luke.

He noticed what she was looking at. 'Oh, this? New toy, Backbiter.'

'Backbiter.'

Luke turned the blade in the light so it glinted wickedly. 'One side is celestial bronze. The other it tempered steel. Works on both mortals and immortals both.'

Nikki hummed and touched the blade, getting her finger nicked. She stared at the cut before putting it in her mouth. 'I didn't know they made weapons like that.' She mumbled.

'_They _probably can't,' Luke agreed. 'It's one of a kind. I never asked, how'd it go with the gods?'

Nikki shrugged. 'As well as it could have.' She paused. 'Luke…do you hate the gods?'

His face darkened.

'They don't care about us. They're manipulative and use us for things they should be doing themselves. So, yeah, I hate them. Why'd you ask?' he said nonchalantly.

'Luke…are you the lightning thief?'

Luke stiffened as Nikki stood up. 'Why do you ask that?' he laughed nervously.

'_You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,'_ Nikki quoted. 'I don't have many people at this camp that I would consider friends. Grover wanted his searcher's license so he needed me to survive. It could have been Annabeth but I didn't consider her a friend until halfway through the quest so the only one left is you.'

Luke chuckled darkly. 'What gave me away?'

'The flying shoes that almost sent us into Tartarus,' Nikki answered. 'And it was your voice talking to Kronos in the pit. Sometimes you don't need to be invisible; you just have to be a really good thief.'

Luke stood up. 'You should be careful with names, Nikki.' He sighed. 'Oh well.' He snapped his fingers and a small fire burned a hole in the ground at her feet. Out crawled something glistening black about the size of a hand – a scorpion.

'Pit scorpions can jump up to five metres. Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds.' The scorpion crawled onto her trouser.

'Let me ask you a question, Nikki,' Luke said conversationally. 'Do _you_ hate the gods?'

Nikki was silent, staring at the scorpion. 'Yes, I hate the gods.'

'Then come with me and serve Kronos. Tear Olympus down stone by stone.'

Nikki looked up from the scorpion, straight at Luke in the eyes. 'I may hate the gods Luke, but…I hate betrayal so much more.'

Luke sighed. 'Goodbye then, Nikki. There is a new golden age coming. You won't be a part of it.'

Nikki smirked. 'Maybe, maybe not, Luke. I'm very hard to kill.'

Luke returned the smirk. 'This will definitely kill you.'

He slashed his sword in an arc and disappeared in a ripple of darkness.

The scorpion lunged.

Nikki was able to cut the thing in half but it had been able to get her in the hand. Her ears pounded and her vision got foggy. She dipped her hand into the creek but the poison was too strong. She had to make it back to camp but sixty seconds was almost up: she'd never make it in time.

Nikki stumbled against a tree and she heard a loud hoot. The nymphs began to stir from their trees and then there was more hooting. Two grabbed her arms and dragged her into the clearing. A counsellor shouted for help and everything went black.

Ω

Nikki woke up in the infirmary and groaned. She had a feeling that this was going to become a trend for her.

Annabeth was taking care of her again, holding a glass full of nectar. 'You idiot,' she said. 'You were green and turning grey when we found you. if it wasn't for Chiron's healing…'

'Now, now,' Chiron said, sitting at the foot of the bed in human form. 'Nikki's constitution deserves some credit. How are you feeling?' he said the Nikki.

'Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved.'

'Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened.'

Nikki told them the story and the room was quiet for a long time.

'I can't believe that Luke…' Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. 'Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him…He was never the same after his quest.'

'This must be reported to Olympus,' Chiron murmured, 'I will go at once.'

'Good luck, Chiron, you're gonna need it,' Nikki said. 'The gods won't even talk about Kronos. Zeus declared the matter closed.'

'Maybe so. But it must still be reported.'

Nikki sighed and muttered a 'fine' under her breath.

'Oh, and, my dear…whenever you're ready, they're here.' Chiron said the Annabeth and left.

'Who's here?' Nikki asked.

'My dad,' Annabeth. 'I took your advice and wrote to him when we got back. I'll be spending the school year with him.'

'That took guts.'

Annabeth pursed her lips. 'When we get back next summer, we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest , but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?'

'Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena.' They shook on it and Annabeth left and joined her family.

Leaving her alone with a disgruntled owl.

Nikki hunched and turned the face Hedwig, who looked absolutely miffed and glaring daggers at her. Nikki had sent Hedwig away to the London to stay with a friend which she had met when the family had still been living in New York.

Nikki honestly didn't think she could get into much trouble while at Camp Half-Blood but she had obviously been wrong and now she had a mad owl to deal with.

'Um…' she started. 'Sorry…?'

Hedwig attacked. She nipped Nikki's fingers and ears until Nikki got on her knees and bowed, apologizing constantly, much to the amusing of the passing Apollo kid.

Hedwig finally calmed down enough for Nikki to take the letter that Hedwig had been carrying. She looked down at it and sighed.

**_Miss N. Potter_**

**_Half-Blood Hill_**

**_Long Island, New York_**

Ω

A/N It's finished! Please review.

It might take a while for the second book in the series to be uploaded.


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